Respiration detection using radar

ABSTRACT

One or more radar sensors can be used to monitor patients in a variety of different environments and embodiments. In one embodiment, radar sensors can be used to monitor a patient&#39;s breathing, including monitoring of tidal volume, chest expansion distance, breathing rate, etc. In another embodiment, a patient position can be monitored in a patient bed, which can be used as feedback for control of bladders of a patient bed. Additional embodiments are described herein.

The present application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e), ofU.S. Provisional Application No. 62/978,481, filed Feb. 19, 2020, andwhich is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Monitoring patient breathing and heart rate is desirable in clinicalsettings. Changes in breathing rate can indicate a change in a patient'scondition, and certain factors such as an asymmetry of breathing mayindicate a condition of the patient. Monitoring patient breathing mayinclude manually counting breaths, measuring chest and abdominal wallmobility, determining any asymmetry in chest expansion, etc. Manualmonitoring is time-intensive, prone to error, and cannot practically bedone continuously for prolonged periods of time.

SUMMARY

An apparatus, system, or method may comprise one or more of the featuresrecited in the appended claims and/or the following features which,alone or in any combination, may comprise patentable subject matter:

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a system for monitoringbreathing, the system comprising one or more radar sensors configured totransmit a radar signal towards a patient; and receive a reflection ofthe radar signal from the patient, and circuitry comprising a radarcontroller to receive data from the one or more radar sensors indicativeof the reflection of the radar signal from the patient; and a breathingpattern monitor to determine one or more parameters indicative of abreathing of the patient based on the data from the one or more radarsensors.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine that the patient has anasymmetrical breathing pattern.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine whether the patient is performingchest breathing.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine a chest expansion distance of thepatient.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine a tidal volume of a patient'sbreathing.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine a rate of a patient's breathing.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine whether the patient has aCheyne-Stokes breathing pattern.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine that the patient has a Kussmaulbreathing pattern.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine that the patient has breathingapnea.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are connected to apatient bed, wherein the patient is in the patient bed.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are in a mobile radarunit.

In some embodiments, to transmit the radar signal comprises to transmita radar signal between 30 and 300 gigahertz.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a system for monitoringbreathing, the system comprising one or more radar sensors configured totransmit a radar signal towards a patient; and receive, by the one ormore radar sensors, a reflection of the radar signal from the patient,and circuitry comprising a radar controller to receive data from the oneor more radar sensors indicative of the reflection of the radar signalfrom the patient; and an electronic stethoscope monitor to determine oneor more breathing sounds of the patient based on the data from the oneor more radar sensors.

In some embodiments, the system may further include a sound classifierto classify the breathing of the patient based on the one or morebreathing sounds of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors.

In some embodiments, to classify the breathing of the patient based onthe one or more breathing sounds of the patient based on the data fromthe one or more radar sensors comprises to detect a wheezing sound basedon the data from the one or more radar sensors; and classify thebreathing of the patient as wheezing based on the wheezing sound.

In some embodiments, to classify the breathing of the patient based onthe one or more breathing sounds of the patient based on the data fromthe one or more radar sensors comprises to detect a stridor sound basedon the data from the one or more radar sensors; and classify thebreathing of the patient as stridor based on the stridor sound.

In some embodiments, to classify the breathing of the patient based onthe one or more breathing sounds of the patient based on the data fromthe one or more radar sensors comprises to detect a coarse cracklessound based on the data from the one or more radar sensors; and classifythe breathing of the patient as coarse crackles based on the coarsecrackles sound.

In some embodiments, to classify the breathing of the patient based onthe one or more breathing sounds of the patient based on the data fromthe one or more radar sensors comprises to detect a fine crackles soundbased on the data from the one or more radar sensors; and classify thebreathing of the patient as fine crackles based on the fine cracklessound.

In some embodiments, to classify the breathing of the patient based onthe one or more breathing sounds of the patient based on the data fromthe one or more radar sensors comprises to detect a pleural rub soundbased on the data from the one or more radar sensors; and classify thebreathing of the patient as pleural rub based on the pleural rub sound.

In some embodiments, to classify the breathing of the patient based onthe one or more breathing sounds of the patient based on the data fromthe one or more radar sensors comprises to detect a normal breathingsound based on the data from the one or more radar sensors; and classifythe breathing of the patient as normal based on the normal breathingsound.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are below a mattressin a patient bed.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are in a mobile radarunit.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a system for monitoringmovement of a patient, the system comprising one or more radar sensorsconfigured to transmit a radar signal towards a patient on a patientbed; and receive a reflection of the radar signal from the patient, andcircuitry comprising a patient position monitor to receive data from theone or more radar sensors indicative of the reflection of the radarsignal from the patient; and determine a position parameter of thepatient, wherein the position parameter is indicative of a location ororientation of the patient on the patient bed.

In some embodiments, the circuitry further comprises a rotation bladdercontroller to determine whether the patient should be rotated based onthe position parameter of the patient.

In some embodiments, to determine whether the patient should be rotatedcomprises to determine that the patient has not been rotated for atleast a threshold amount of time.

In some embodiments, the circuitry further comprises a rotation bladdercontroller to determine, based on the position parameter, a subset of aplurality of rotation bladders of the patient bed to inflate in order torotate the patient; and send a signal to inflate the subset of theplurality of rotation bladders.

In some embodiments, the circuitry further comprises a rotation bladdercontroller to determine, based on the position parameter, a subset of aplurality of rotation bladders of the patient bed to inflate in order tomove the patient towards a center of the patient bed; and send a signalto inflate the subset of the plurality of rotation bladders.

In some embodiments, the circuitry further comprises a percussion andvibration (P & V) bladder controller to determine, based on the positionparameter, a subset of a plurality of P & V bladders of the patient bedto inflate in order to perform P & V therapy on the patient, wherein theselected subset of the plurality of P & V bladders are P &V bladdersunder a current position of the patient; and send a signal to inflatethe subset of the plurality of P & V bladders.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are furtherconfigured to transmit an additional radar signal towards the patientduring the P & V therapy; and receive a reflection of the additionalradar signal from the patient, wherein the P & V bladder controller isfurther to receive additional data from the one or more radar sensorsindicative of the reflection of the additional radar signal from thepatient; determine, based on the additional data from the one or moreradar sensors, an amplitude of vibration of the patient caused by the P& V therapy; and adjust a signal sent to inflate the subset of theplurality of P & V bladders based on the amplitude of vibration of thepatient.

In some embodiments, the P & V bladder controller is further todetermine, based on the position parameter, a subset of a plurality ofrotation bladders of the patient bed to inflate in order to move thepatient towards a center of the patient bed; and send a signal toinflate the subset of the plurality of rotation bladders to move thepatient towards the center of the patient bed prior to sending thesignal to inflate the subset of the plurality of P & V bladders.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a system for facilitatingbreathing exercises, the system comprising circuitry comprising a videoinstructor circuitry to present a breathing instruction to a patient;one or more radar sensors configured to transmit a radar signal towardsthe patient after presentation of the breathing instruction; and receivea reflection of the radar signal from the patient, wherein the circuitryfurther comprises a breathing exercises monitor to receive data from theone or more radar sensors indicative of the reflection of the radarsignal from the patient; and determine, based on the data from the oneor more radar sensors, a parameter of one or more breaths of thepatient, wherein the video instructor circuitry is further to present asecond breathing instruction to the patient, wherein the secondbreathing instruction is based on the parameter of the one or morebreaths of the patient.

In some embodiments, to present the breathing instruction to the patientcomprises to present the breathing instruction on a display, wherein thepatient is in a patient bed, and wherein the display is attached to thepatient bed.

In some embodiments, to present the breathing instruction to the patientcomprises to present the breathing instruction on a display, and whereinthe display is attached to a mobile breathing exercise device.

In some embodiments, the breathing exercises monitor is further to storeperformance data of the patient during an exercise session associatedwith the breathing instruction and the second breathing instruction,wherein the performance data indicates a response of the patient to thebreathing instruction and to the second breathing instruction.

In some embodiments, the breathing exercises monitor is further todetermine, based on the performance data, a third breathing instructionof a second exercise session different from the first.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a system for monitoringpatients, the system comprising one or more radar sensors configured totransmit a radar signal towards a patient in a waiting room of ahospital; and receive a reflection of the radar signal from the patient;and a vital signs analysis server configured to receive data from theone or more radar sensors indicative of the reflection of the radarsignal from the patient; and determine one or more vital sign parametersof the patient based on the data from the one or more radar sensors.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are attached to oneor more chairs in the waiting room.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are attached to arotatable mount.

In some embodiments, the one or more vital sign parameters comprise aparameter indicative of a breathing of the patient.

In some embodiments, the one or more vital sign parameters comprise aparameter indicative of a heartbeat of the patient.

In some embodiments, the vital signs analysis server is furtherconfigured to determine whether an alert should be provided to acaregiver based on the one or more vital sign parameters; and provide analert to a caregiver in response to a determination that an alert shouldbe provided to a caregiver based on the one or more vital signparameters.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a breathing therapy systemcomprising one or more radar sensors configured to transmit a radarsignal towards a patient; receive a reflection of the radar signal fromthe patient; circuitry comprising a breathing monitor to receive datafrom the one or more radar sensors indicative of the reflection of theradar signal from the patient; and determine one or more parametersindicative of a breathing of the patient based on the data from the oneor more radar sensors; and an airflow controller to control, based onthe one or more parameters indicative of the breathing of the patient,an airflow provided to the patient by the breathing therapy system.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine a current phase of a breathingcycle of the patient based on the data from the one or more radarsensors, and wherein to control the airflow provided to the patientcomprises to control the airflow provided to the patient based on adetermined current phase of the breathing cycle of the patient.

In some embodiments, to determine the current phase of the breathingcycle of the patient based on the data from the one or more radarsensors comprises to determine that the patient is breathing in, andwherein to control the airflow provided to the patient based on adetermined current phase of the breathing cycle of the patient comprisesto provide a positive pressure airflow to the patient based on adetermination that the patient is breathing in.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine that the patient is beginning acough, and wherein to control the airflow provided to the patientcomprises to provide a negative airflow to the patient to assist withthe cough based on a determination that the patient is beginning thecough.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, an infant breathing monitorcomprising one or more radar sensors configured to transmit a radarsignal a radar signal towards an infant; and receive a reflection of theradar signal from the infant, and circuitry configured to receive datafrom the one or more radar sensors indicative of the reflection of theradar signal from the infant; determine, based on the data from the oneor more radar sensors, whether the infant is breathing; and trigger analert based on the airflow provided to the patient by the breathingtherapy system.

In some embodiments, the infant breathing monitor is attached to a crib,wherein the infant is in the crib.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a method for monitoringbreathing, the method comprising transmitting, by one or more radarsensors, a radar signal towards a patient; receiving, by the one or moreradar sensors, a reflection of the radar signal from the patient;receiving, by circuitry, data from the one or more radar sensorsindicative of the reflection of the radar signal from the patient; anddetermining, by the circuitry, one or more parameters indicative of abreathing of the patient based on the data from the one or more radarsensors.

In some embodiments, determining the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises determining that the patient has an asymmetricalbreathing pattern.

In some embodiments, determining the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises determining whether the patient is performingchest breathing.

In some embodiments, determining the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises determining a chest expansion distance of thepatient.

In some embodiments, determining the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises determining a tidal volume of a patient'sbreathing.

In some embodiments, determining the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises determining a rate of a patient's breathing.

In some embodiments, determining the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises determining whether the patient has aCheyne-Stokes breathing pattern.

In some embodiments, determining the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises determining that the patient has a Kussmaulbreathing pattern.

In some embodiments, determining the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises determining that the patient has breathingapnea.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are connected to apatient bed, wherein the patient is in the patient bed.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are in a mobile radarunit.

In some embodiments, transmitting the radar signal comprisestransmitting a radar signal between 30 and 300 gigahertz.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a method for monitoringbreathing, the method comprising transmitting, by one or more radarsensors, a radar signal towards a patient; receiving, by the one or moreradar sensors, a reflection of the radar signal from the patient;receiving, by circuitry, data from the one or more radar sensorsindicative of the reflection of the radar signal from the patient;determining, by the circuitry, one or more breathing sounds of thepatient based on the data from the one or more radar sensors.

In some embodiments, the method may further include classifying, by thecircuitry, the breathing of the patient based on the one or morebreathing sounds of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors.

In some embodiments, classifying, by the circuitry, the breathing of thepatient based on the one or more breathing sounds of the patient basedon the data from the one or more radar sensors comprises detecting, bythe circuitry, a wheezing sound based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors; and classifying the breathing of the patient as wheezingbased on the wheezing sound.

In some embodiments, classifying, by the circuitry, the breathing of thepatient based on the one or more breathing sounds of the patient basedon the data from the one or more radar sensors comprises detecting, bythe circuitry, a stridor sound based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors; and classifying the breathing of the patient as stridorbased on the stridor sound.

In some embodiments, classifying, by the circuitry, the breathing of thepatient based on the one or more breathing sounds of the patient basedon the data from the one or more radar sensors comprises detecting, bythe circuitry, a coarse crackles sound based on the data from the one ormore radar sensors; and classifying the breathing of the patient ascoarse crackles based on the coarse crackles sound.

In some embodiments, classifying, by the circuitry, the breathing of thepatient based on the one or more breathing sounds of the patient basedon the data from the one or more radar sensors comprises detecting, bythe circuitry, a fine crackles sound based on the data from the one ormore radar sensors; and classifying the breathing of the patient as finecrackles based on the fine crackles sound.

In some embodiments, classifying, by the circuitry, the breathing of thepatient based on the one or more breathing sounds of the patient basedon the data from the one or more radar sensors comprises detecting, bythe circuitry, a pleural rub sound based on the data from the one ormore radar sensors; and classifying the breathing of the patient aspleural rub based on the pleural rub sound.

In some embodiments, classifying, by the circuitry, the breathing of thepatient based on the one or more breathing sounds of the patient basedon the data from the one or more radar sensors comprises detecting, bythe circuitry, a normal breathing sound based on the data from the oneor more radar sensors; and classifying the breathing of the patient asnormal based on the normal breathing sound.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are below a mattressin a patient bed.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are in a mobile radarunit.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a method for monitoringmovement of a patient, the method comprising transmitting, by one ormore radar sensors, a radar signal towards a patient on a patient bed;receiving, by the one or more radar sensors, a reflection of the radarsignal from the patient; receiving, by circuitry, data from the one ormore radar sensors indicative of the reflection of the radar signal fromthe patient; determining, by the circuitry, a position parameter of thepatient, wherein the position parameter is indicative of a location ororientation of the patient on the patient bed.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining, by thecircuitry, whether the patient should be rotated based on the positionparameter of the patient.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining whetherthe patient should be rotated comprises determining that the patient hasnot been rotated for at least a threshold amount of time.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining, by thecircuitry and based on the position parameter, a subset of a pluralityof rotation bladders of the patient bed to inflate in order to rotatethe patient; and sending, by the circuitry, a signal to inflate thesubset of the plurality of rotation bladders.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining, by thecircuitry and based on the position parameter, a subset of a pluralityof rotation bladders of the patient bed to inflate in order to move thepatient towards a center of the patient bed; and sending, by thecircuitry, a signal to inflate the subset of the plurality of rotationbladders.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining, by thecircuitry and based on the position parameter, a subset of a pluralityof percussion and vibration (P & V) bladders of the patient bed toinflate in order to perform P & V therapy on the patient, wherein theselected subset of the plurality of P & V bladders are P &V bladdersunder a current position of the patient; and sending, by the circuitry,a signal to inflate the subset of the plurality of P & V bladders.

In some embodiments, the method may further include transmitting, by theone or more radar sensors, an additional radar signal towards thepatient during the P & V therapy; receiving, by the one or more radarsensors, a reflection of the additional radar signal from the patient;receiving, by the circuitry, additional data from the one or more radarsensors indicative of the reflection of the additional radar signal fromthe patient; determining, by the circuitry and based on the additionaldata from the one or more radar sensors, an amplitude of vibration ofthe patient caused by the P & V therapy; and adjusting, by thecircuitry, a signal sent to inflate the subset of the plurality of P & Vbladders based on the amplitude of vibration of the patient.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining, by thecircuitry and based on the position parameter, a subset of a pluralityof rotation bladders of the patient bed to inflate in order to move thepatient towards a center of the patient bed; and sending, by thecircuitry, a signal to inflate the subset of the plurality of rotationbladders to move the patient towards the center of the patient bed priorto sending the signal to inflate the subset of the plurality of P & Vbladders.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a method for facilitatingbreathing exercises, the method comprising presenting, by circuitry, abreathing instruction to a patient; transmitting, by one or more radarsensors, a radar signal towards the patient after presentation of thebreathing instruction; receiving, by the one or more radar sensors, areflection of the radar signal from the patient; receiving, by thecircuitry, data from the one or more radar sensors indicative of thereflection of the radar signal from the patient; determining, by thecircuitry and based on the data from the one or more radar sensors, aparameter of one or more breaths of the patient; and presenting, by thecircuitry, a second breathing instruction to the patient, wherein thesecond breathing instruction is based on the parameter of the one ormore breaths of the patient.

In some embodiments, presenting the breathing instruction to the patientcomprises presenting the breathing instruction on a display, wherein thepatient is in a patient bed, and wherein the display is attached to thepatient bed.

In some embodiments, presenting the breathing instruction to the patientcomprises presenting the breathing instruction on a display, and whereinthe display is attached to a mobile breathing exercise device.

In some embodiments, the method may further include storing, by thecircuitry, performance data of the patient during an exercise sessionassociated with the breathing instruction and the second breathinginstruction, wherein the performance data indicates a response of thepatient to the breathing instruction and to the second breathinginstruction.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining, by thecircuitry and based on the performance data, a third breathinginstruction of a second exercise session different from the first.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a method for monitoringpatients, the method comprising transmitting, by one or more radarsensors, a radar signal towards a patient in a waiting room of ahospital; receiving, by the one or more radar sensors, a reflection ofthe radar signal from the patient; receiving, by circuitry, data fromthe one or more radar sensors indicative of the reflection of the radarsignal from the patient; and determining, by the circuitry, one or morevital sign parameters of the patient based on the data from the one ormore radar sensors.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are attached to oneor more chairs in the waiting room.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are attached to arotatable mount.

In some embodiments, the one or more vital sign parameters comprise aparameter indicative of a breathing of the patient.

In some embodiments, the one or more vital sign parameters comprise aparameter indicative of a heartbeat of the patient.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining, by thecircuitry, whether an alert should be provided to a caregiver based onthe one or more vital sign parameters; and providing, by the circuitry,an alert to a caregiver in response to a determination that an alertshould be provided to a caregiver based on the one or more vital signparameters.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a method for operating abreathing therapy system, the method comprising transmitting, by one ormore radar sensors of the breathing therapy system, a radar signaltowards a patient; receiving, by the one or more radar sensors, areflection of the radar signal from the patient; receiving, by circuitryof the breathing therapy system, data from the one or more radar sensorsindicative of the reflection of the radar signal from the patient;determining, by the circuitry, one or more parameters indicative of abreathing of the patient based on the data from the one or more radarsensors; and controlling, by the circuitry and based on the one or moreparameters indicative of the breathing of the patient, an airflowprovided to the patient by the breathing therapy system.

In some embodiments, determining the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises determining a current phase of a breathing cycleof the patient based on the data from the one or more radar sensors, andwherein controlling the airflow provided to the patient comprisescontrolling the airflow provided to the patient based on a determinedcurrent phase of the breathing cycle of the patient.

In some embodiments, determining the current phase of the breathingcycle of the patient based on the data from the one or more radarsensors comprises determining that the patient is breathing in, andwherein controlling the airflow provided to the patient based on adetermined current phase of the breathing cycle of the patient comprisesproviding a positive pressure airflow to the patient based on adetermination that the patient is breathing in.

In some embodiments, determining the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises determining that the patient is beginning acough, and wherein controlling the airflow provided to the patientcomprises providing a negative airflow to the patient to assist with thecough based on a determination that the patient is beginning the cough.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a method for monitoring aninfant, the method comprising transmitting, by one or more radar sensorsof the breathing therapy system, a radar signal towards the infant;receiving, by the one or more radar sensors, a reflection of the radarsignal from the infant; receiving, by circuitry of an infant breathingmonitor, data from the one or more radar sensors indicative of thereflection of the radar signal from the infant; determining, by thecircuitry and based on the data from the one or more radar sensors,whether the infant is breathing; and triggering, by the circuitry, analert based on the airflow provided to the patient by the breathingtherapy system.

In some embodiments, the infant breathing monitor is attached to a crib,wherein the infant is in the crib.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media comprising a plurality of instructions storedthereon that, when executed by a processor of a system for monitoringbreathing, causes the system to transmit, by one or more radar sensorsof the system, a radar signal towards a patient; receive, by the one ormore radar sensors, a reflection of the radar signal from the patient;receive data from the one or more radar sensors indicative of thereflection of the radar signal from the patient; and determine one ormore parameters indicative of a breathing of the patient based on thedata from the one or more radar sensors.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine that the patient has anasymmetrical breathing pattern.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine whether the patient is performingchest breathing.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine a chest expansion distance of thepatient.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine a tidal volume of a patient'sbreathing.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine a rate of a patient's breathing.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine whether the patient has aCheyne-Stokes breathing pattern.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine that the patient has a Kussmaulbreathing pattern.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine that the patient has breathingapnea.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are connected to apatient bed, wherein the patient is in the patient bed.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are in a mobile radarunit.

In some embodiments, to transmit the radar signal comprises to transmita radar signal between 30 and 300 gigahertz.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media comprising a plurality of instructions storedthereon that, when executed by a processor of a system for monitoringbreathing, causes the system to transmit, by one or more radar sensorsof the system, a radar signal towards a patient; receive, by the one ormore radar sensors, a reflection of the radar signal from the patient;receive data from the one or more radar sensors indicative of thereflection of the radar signal from the patient; and determine one ormore breathing sounds of the patient based on the data from the one ormore radar sensors.

In some embodiments, the plurality of instructions further cause thesystem to classify the breathing of the patient based on the one or morebreathing sounds of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors.

In some embodiments, to classify the breathing of the patient based onthe one or more breathing sounds of the patient based on the data fromthe one or more radar sensors comprises to detect a wheezing sound basedon the data from the one or more radar sensors; and classify thebreathing of the patient as wheezing based on the wheezing sound.

In some embodiments, to classify the breathing of the patient based onthe one or more breathing sounds of the patient based on the data fromthe one or more radar sensors comprises to detect a stridor sound basedon the data from the one or more radar sensors; and classify thebreathing of the patient as stridor based on the stridor sound.

In some embodiments, to classify the breathing of the patient based onthe one or more breathing sounds of the patient based on the data fromthe one or more radar sensors comprises to detect a coarse cracklessound based on the data from the one or more radar sensors; and classifythe breathing of the patient as coarse crackles based on the coarsecrackles sound.

In some embodiments, to classify the breathing of the patient based onthe one or more breathing sounds of the patient based on the data fromthe one or more radar sensors comprises to detect a fine crackles soundbased on the data from the one or more radar sensors; and classify thebreathing of the patient as fine crackles based on the fine cracklessound.

In some embodiments, to classify the breathing of the patient based onthe one or more breathing sounds of the patient based on the data fromthe one or more radar sensors comprises to detect a pleural rub soundbased on the data from the one or more radar sensors; and classify thebreathing of the patient as pleural rub based on the pleural rub sound.

In some embodiments, to classify the breathing of the patient based onthe one or more breathing sounds of the patient based on the data fromthe one or more radar sensors comprises to detect a normal breathingsound based on the data from the one or more radar sensors; and classifythe breathing of the patient as normal based on the normal breathingsound.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are below a mattressin a patient bed.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are in a mobile radarunit.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media comprising a plurality of instructions storedthereon that, when executed by a processor of a system for monitoringmovement of a patient, causes the system to transmit, by one or moreradar sensors of the system, a radar signal towards a patient on apatient bed; receive, by the one or more radar sensors, a reflection ofthe radar signal from the patient; receive data from the one or moreradar sensors indicative of the reflection of the radar signal from thepatient; and determine a position parameter of the patient, wherein theposition parameter is indicative of a location or orientation of thepatient on the patient bed.

In some embodiments, the plurality of instructions further cause thesystem to determine whether the patient should be rotated based on theposition parameter of the patient.

In some embodiments, to determine whether the patient should be rotatedcomprises to determine that the patient has not been rotated for atleast a threshold amount of time.

In some embodiments, the plurality of instructions further cause thesystem to determine, based on the position parameter, a subset of aplurality of rotation bladders of the patient bed to inflate in order torotate the patient; and send a signal to inflate the subset of theplurality of rotation bladders.

In some embodiments, the plurality of instructions further cause thesystem to determine, based on the position parameter, a subset of aplurality of rotation bladders of the patient bed to inflate in order tomove the patient towards a center of the patient bed; and send a signalto inflate the subset of the plurality of rotation bladders.

In some embodiments, the plurality of instructions further cause thesystem to determine, based on the position parameter, a subset of aplurality of percussion and vibration (P & V) bladders of the patientbed to inflate in order to perform P & V therapy on the patient, whereinthe selected subset of the plurality of P & V bladders are P &V bladdersunder a current position of the patient; and send a signal to inflatethe subset of the plurality of P & V bladders.

In some embodiments, the plurality of instructions further cause thesystem to transmit, by the one or more radar sensors, an additionalradar signal towards the patient during the P & V therapy; receive, bythe one or more radar sensors, a reflection of the additional radarsignal from the patient; receive additional data from the one or moreradar sensors indicative of the reflection of the additional radarsignal from the patient; determine, based on the additional data fromthe one or more radar sensors, an amplitude of vibration of the patientcaused by the P & V therapy; and adjust a signal sent to inflate thesubset of the plurality of P & V bladders based on the amplitude ofvibration of the patient.

In some embodiments, the plurality of instructions further cause thesystem to determine, based on the position parameter, a subset of aplurality of rotation bladders of the patient bed to inflate in order tomove the patient towards a center of the patient bed; and send a signalto inflate the subset of the plurality of rotation bladders to move thepatient towards the center of the patient bed prior to sending thesignal to inflate the subset of the plurality of P & V bladders.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media comprising a plurality of instructions storedthereon that, when executed by a processor of a system for facilitatingbreathing exercises, causes the system to present a breathinginstruction to a patient; transmit, by one or more radar sensors of thesystem, a radar signal towards the patient after presentation of thebreathing instruction; receive, by one or more radar sensors of thesystem, a reflection of the radar signal from the patient; receive datafrom the one or more radar sensors indicative of the reflection of theradar signal from the patient; determine, based on the data from the oneor more radar sensors, a parameter of one or more breaths of thepatient; and present a second breathing instruction to the patient,wherein the second breathing instruction is based on the parameter ofthe one or more breaths of the patient.

In some embodiments, to present the breathing instruction to the patientcomprises to present the breathing instruction on a display, wherein thepatient is in a patient bed, and wherein the display is attached to thepatient bed.

In some embodiments, to present the breathing instruction to the patientcomprises to present the breathing instruction on a display, and whereinthe display is attached to a mobile breathing exercise device.

In some embodiments, the plurality of instructions further cause thesystem to store performance data of the patient during an exercisesession associated with the breathing instruction and the secondbreathing instruction, wherein the performance data indicates a responseof the patient to the breathing instruction and to the second breathinginstruction.

In some embodiments, the plurality of instructions further cause thesystem to determine, based on the performance data, a third breathinginstruction of a second exercise session different from the first.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media comprising a plurality of instructions storedthereon that, when executed by a processor of a system for monitoringpatients, causes the system to transmit, by one or more radar sensors ofthe system, a radar signal towards a patient in a waiting room of ahospital; receive, by the one or more radar sensors, a reflection of theradar signal from the patient; receive data from the one or more radarsensors indicative of the reflection of the radar signal from thepatient; and determine one or more vital sign parameters of the patientbased on the data from the one or more radar sensors.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are attached to oneor more chairs in the waiting room.

In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors are attached to arotatable mount.

In some embodiments, the one or more vital sign parameters comprise aparameter indicative of a breathing of the patient.

In some embodiments, the one or more vital sign parameters comprise aparameter indicative of a heartbeat of the patient.

In some embodiments, plurality of instructions further causes the systemto determine whether an alert should be provided to a caregiver based onthe one or more vital sign parameters; and provide an alert to acaregiver in response to a determination that an alert should beprovided to a caregiver based on the one or more vital sign parameters.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media comprising a plurality of instructions storedthereon that, when executed by a processor of a breathing therapysystem, causes the breathing therapy system to transmit, by one or moreradar sensors of the breathing therapy system, a radar signal towards apatient; receive, by the one or more radar sensors, a reflection of theradar signal from the patient; receive data from the one or more radarsensors indicative of the reflection of the radar signal from thepatient; determine one or more parameters indicative of a breathing ofthe patient based on the data from the one or more radar sensors; andcontrol, based on the one or more parameters indicative of the breathingof the patient, an airflow provided to the patient by the breathingtherapy system.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine a current phase of a breathingcycle of the patient based on the data from the one or more radarsensors, and wherein to control the airflow provided to the patientcomprises to control the airflow provided to the patient based on adetermined current phase of the breathing cycle of the patient.

In some embodiments, to determine the current phase of the breathingcycle of the patient based on the data from the one or more radarsensors comprises to determine that the patient is breathing in, andwherein to control the airflow provided to the patient based on adetermined current phase of the breathing cycle of the patient comprisesto provide a positive pressure airflow to the patient based on adetermination that the patient is breathing in.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more parameters indicativeof the breathing of the patient based on the data from the one or moreradar sensors comprises to determine that the patient is beginning acough, and wherein to control the airflow provided to the patientcomprises to provide a negative airflow to the patient to assist withthe cough based on a determination that the patient is beginning thecough.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media comprising a plurality of instructions storedthereon that, when executed by a processor of an infant breathingmonitor, causes the infant breathing monitor to transmit, by one or moreradar sensors of the infant breathing monitor, a radar signal a radarsignal towards an infant; receive, by the one or more radar sensors, areflection of the radar signal from the infant; receive data from theone or more radar sensors indicative of the reflection of the radarsignal from the infant; determine, based on the data from the one ormore radar sensors, whether the infant is breathing; and trigger analert based on the airflow provided to the patient by the breathingtherapy system.

In some embodiments, the infant breathing monitor is attached to a crib,wherein the infant is in the crib.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description particularly refers to the accompanyingfigures, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a system for monitoring a patient usingone or more radio detection and ranging (radar) sensors;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of circuitry associatedwith the system of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an environment that may be established bysome or all of the circuitry of FIG. 2 ;

FIGS. 4A-4C depict chest and abdomen monitoring regions that can be usedin one embodiment of the system of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of a systemfor monitoring a patient using one or more radar sensors;

FIG. 6 is a side view of a patient that can be monitored using thesystem of FIG. 5 ;

FIG. 7 is a graphic of one embodiment of a change in chest height due toa patient breathing;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an alternative mobile embodiment of asystem for monitoring a patient using one or more radar sensors;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of a systemfor monitoring a patient using one or more radar sensors;

FIGS. 10A & 10B are a flowchart for one embodiment of a method tomonitor breathing patterns using one of the systems of FIG. 1, 5, 8 , or9;

FIG. 11 is a side view of an alternative embodiment of a system formonitoring a patient using one or more radar sensors;

FIG. 12 is an environment that may be established by bed circuitry ofthe system of FIG. 11 ;

FIGS. 13A & 13B are a flowchart for one embodiment of a method tomonitor breathing that may be executed by the system of FIG. 11 ;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a system formonitoring a patient's position using one or more radar sensors;

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a system formonitoring a patient's position using one or more radar sensors;

FIG. 16 is a side view of one embodiment of a system for monitoring apatient's position using one or more radar sensors;

FIG. 17 is an environment that may be established by bed circuitry ofthe systems of FIG. 14, 15 , or 16;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart for one embodiment of a method to monitor patientposition that may be executed by the system of FIG. 14, 15 , or 16;

FIG. 19 is a flowchart for one embodiment of a method to performpercussion and vibration (P & V) therapy on a patient;

FIG. 20A is a side view of a system for performing breathing exerciseswith radar monitoring;

FIG. 20B is a perspective view of an alternative system for performingbreathing exercises with radar monitoring;

FIG. 21 is an environment that may be established by bed circuitry ofthe systems of FIG. 20A or 20B;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart for one embodiment of a method to guide a patientto perform breathing exercises;

FIG. 23 is a top view of a system for monitoring patients in a waitingarea and a simplified block diagram of circuitry of the system;

FIG. 24 is a top view of an alternative system for monitoring patientsin a waiting area and a simplified block diagram of circuitry of thesystem;

FIG. 25 is a flowchart for one embodiment of a method to monitorpatients in a waiting area;

FIG. 26 is one embodiment of a device for providing pressurized air to apatient;

FIG. 27 is a flowchart for one embodiment of a method of providingpressurized air to a patient that may be performed by the device of FIG.26 ;

FIG. 28 is a perspective view of a system for monitoring an infantbreathing; and

FIG. 29 is a flowchart for one embodiment of a method of monitoring aninfant breathing that may be performed by the system of FIG. 28 .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, one or moreradio detection and ranging (radar) apparatuses are integrated intosystems such as patient support systems and breathing monitor systems.The radar apparatuses are used to monitor patients, such as bymonitoring heart rate, breathing, and positioning.

While all types of systems implementing the disclosed technology arecontemplated herein, some examples of a patient support system include astandalone mattress system, a mattress overlay, a patient bed, a patientbed with an integrated mattress system, a surgical table, an examinationtable, an imaging table, a stretcher, a chair, a wheelchair, and apatient lift, just to name a few. Patient support surfaces contemplatedherein include air mattress, form mattresses, combination air and formmattresses, mattress overlays, surgical table pads and mattresses,stretcher pads and mattresses, chair pads, wheelchair pads, and patientlift pads, just to name a few.

While the concepts of the present disclosure are susceptible to variousmodifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof havebeen shown by way of example in the drawings and will be describedherein in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is nointent to limit the concepts of the present disclosure to the particularforms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents, and alternatives consistent with the presentdisclosure and the appended claims.

References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,”“an illustrative embodiment,” etc., indicate that the embodimentdescribed may include a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic, but every embodiment may or may not necessarily includethat particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, suchphrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further,when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described inconnection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within theknowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure,or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or notexplicitly described. Additionally, it should be appreciated that itemsincluded in a list in the form of “at least one A, B, and C” can mean(A); (B); (C): (A and B); (B and C); (A and C); or (A, B, and C).Similarly, items listed in the form of “at least one of A, B, or C” canmean (A); (B); (C): (A and B); (B and C); (A and C); or (A, B, and C).

The disclosed embodiments may be implemented, in some cases, inhardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. The disclosedembodiments may also be implemented as instructions carried by or storedon one or more transitory or non-transitory machine-readable (e.g.,computer-readable) storage medium, which may be read and executed by oneor more processors. A machine-readable storage medium may be embodied asany storage device, mechanism, or other physical structure for storingor transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., avolatile or non-volatile memory, a media disc, or other media device).

In the drawings, some structural or method features may be shown inspecific arrangements and/or orderings. However, it should beappreciated that such specific arrangements and/or orderings may not berequired. Rather, in some embodiments, such features may be arranged ina different manner and/or order than shown in the illustrative figures.Additionally, the inclusion of a structural or method feature in aparticular figure is not meant to imply that such feature is required inall embodiments and, in some embodiments, may not be included or may becombined with other features

Referring now to FIG. 1 , a patient support system 100 includes apatient bed 102, a radar support mount 104, an abdominal radar sensor106, a left radar sensor 108, a right radar sensor 110, and bedcircuitry 112. The radar sensors 106, 108, 110 monitor a patient 114 onthe patient bed 102. As discussed in more detail below, the radarsensors 106, 108, 110 may monitor a patient's heartrate, breathingpatterns, position on the bed, etc.

Each radar sensor 106, 108, 110 may be any suitable radar sensor. In theillustrative embodiment, each radar sensor 106, 108, 110 is amillimeter-wave sensor that operates at 30-300 gigahertz (GHz). Eachradar sensor 106, 108, 110 may operate over a range of frequencies, suchas 60-64 GHz or 76-81 GHz. Each radar sensor 106, 108, 110 has one ormore transmitter and one or more receiver. For example, each of theradar sensors 106, 108, 110 may include one or more of an AWR1843,AWR1642, AWR1443, AWR1243, IWR6843AoP, IWR6843, IWR1843, IWR1642, and/orIWR1443 chip by Texas Instruments. In some embodiments, the radarsensors 106, 108, 110 may include two or more radar chips that arecascaded together such that they operate synchronously, giving improvedtarget detection and resolution. Additionally or alternatively, theradar sensors 106, 108, 110 may be cascaded together.

In use, each radar sensor 106, 108, 110 emits radio waves, such asmillimeter waves. The radar sensors 106, 108, 110 may emit a singlefrequency, a series of pulses, a shaped pulse, a chirped pulse, or anyother suitable wave. The waves propagate from the radar sensors 106,108, 110 and are reflected from the patient 114 back to the radarsensors 106, 108, 110. As used herein, a reflected radar signal orreflection of a radar signal refers to a radar signal that is scattered,coherently reflected, incoherently reflected, partially reflected, etc.The reflected signals can be processed to determine a distance from theradar sensors 106, 108, 110 to one or more areas of the patient 114,such as by determining a time-of-flight or phase of the reflectedsignals. Multiple areas of the patient 114 can be detected as multiplereflected signals. The location of the areas reflecting the waves can bedetermined by the difference in reflected signals in differentreceivers. Additionally or alternatively, the velocity of certain areasof the patient 114 that are reflecting waves may be determined based ona Doppler shift of the reflected waves. In this way, the radar sensors106, 108, 110 can be used to map the position and contour of the patient114. In the illustrative embodiment, the abdominal radar sensor 106 mapsthe contour of the area of the patient 114 located in the center of thepatient bed 102, and the left radar sensor 110 and right radar sensor110 maps the area of the patient 114 located in the right and left partsof the patient bed 102, respectively. Additionally or alternatively, anyof the radar sensors 106, 108, 110 may be used to map any area of thepatient 114 in any part of the patient bed 102.

In some embodiments, multiple transmitting antennae from some or all ofthe radar sensors 106, 108, 110 may be operating with a controlled phasedifference, allowing for beamforming. Beamforming may be used to probe aparticular area of a patient 114, patient bed 102, or room.

It should be appreciated that, in some embodiments, the radio waves maypenetrate some materials such as clothes, blankets, sheets, allowing fora patient 114 to be monitored under a blanket without contact.

In the illustrative embodiment, the radar support mount 104 extends overa patient bed 102. The radar support mount 104 may be attached to thepatient bed 102 or may form part of a free-standing radar monitoringunit. It should be appreciated that, in some embodiments, the radarsensors 106, 108, 110 may be positioned differently from theconfiguration shown in FIG. 1 . For example, some or all of the radarsensors 106, 108, 110 may be positioned to the side of the patient 114,on a wall of a room, embedded in the patient bed 102, and/or in anyother suitable location relative to the patient 114.

The radar sensors 106, 108, 110 may be connected to the bed circuitry112 in any suitable manner. In the illustrative embodiment, one or morewires connect the radar sensors 106, 108, 110 to the bed circuitry 112.Additionally or alternatively, the radar sensors 106, 108, 110 may beconnected to the bed circuitry 112 using fiber optics or a wirelesssignal. In some embodiments, the bed circuitry 112 may be located nextto one or more of the radar sensors 106, 108, 110 and/or may beintegrated into the radar sensors 106, 108, 110. In some embodiments,some or all of the bed circuitry 112 may be located in the radar supportmount 104, as shown in FIG. 1 . Additionally or alternatively, some orall of the bed circuitry 112 may be located in any suitable location,such as in the base of the patient bed 102, in a separate component nearthe patient bed 102, in a remote location, etc.

The bed circuitry 112 may be embodied as any circuitry capable ofperforming the functions described herein. For example, the bedcircuitry 112 may be embodied as or otherwise be included in, withoutlimitation, an embedded computing system, a System-on-a-Chip (SoC), amultiprocessor system, a processor-based system, a consumer electronicdevice, a smartphone, a cellular phone, a desktop computer, a servercomputer, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a laptop computer, anetwork device, a router, a switch, a networked computer, a wearablecomputer, a handset, a messaging device, a camera device, and/or anyother computing device. The bed circuitry 112 may include one or moreprocessors, memory, one or more data storage devices, communicationcircuitry, and/or any other suitable component. In some embodiments, oneor more of the components of the bed circuitry 112 may be incorporatedin, or otherwise form a portion of, another component. For example,memory, or portions thereof, may be incorporated in the processor insome embodiments.

Still referring to FIG. 1 , bed 102 includes a frame 116 that, in turn,includes a lower frame or base 118, an upper frame assembly 120, and alift system 122 coupling upper frame assembly 120 to base 118. Liftsystem 122 is operable to raise, lower, and tilt upper frame assembly120 relative to base 118. Bed 102 has a head end 124 and a foot end 126.Bed 10 further includes a footboard 128 at the foot end 126 and aheadboard 130 at the head end 124. Headboard 130 is coupled to a raisedportion 132 of base 28. Footboard 128 is coupled to foot end 126 ofupper frame assembly 120 in the illustrative example. In otherembodiments, footboard 128 is coupled to an extendable and retractableportion of a foot section of a mattress support deck 134 of upper frameassembly 120. Base 118 includes wheels or casters 136 that roll along afloor as bed 102 is moved from one location to another. A set of footpedals 138 are coupled to base 118 and are used to brake and releasecasters 136 as is known in the art. Base 118 also supports a housing 119in which portions of bed circuitry, such as some or all of bed circuitry112 described herein, resides.

Illustrative hospital bed 102 has four siderail assemblies coupled toupper frame assembly 120 as shown in FIG. 1 . The four siderailassemblies include a pair of head siderail assemblies 140 (sometimesreferred to as head rails) and a pair of foot siderail assemblies 142(sometimes referred to as foot rails). Each of the siderail assemblies140, 142 is movable between a raised position, as shown in FIG. 1 withregard to both head rails 140 and the right foot rail 142, and a loweredposition, as shown in FIG. 1 with regard to the left foot rail 142.Siderail assemblies 140, 142 are sometimes referred to herein as justsiderails 140, 142. Each siderail 140, 142 includes a barrier panel 144and a linkage 146. Each linkage 56 is coupled to the upper frameassembly 120 and is configured to guide the barrier panel 144 duringmovement of siderails 140, 142 between the respective raised and loweredpositions.

Mattress support deck 134 of upper frame assembly 120 supports amattress 148 which, in turn, supports the patient 114. Mattress supportdeck 134 is situated over an upper frame of upper frame assembly 120. Insome embodiments, mattress support deck 38 includes articulated decksections such as a head section that supports the head and torso regionsof the patient 114, a seat section that supports the buttocks and sacralregions of the patient 114, a thigh section that supports the patient'sthighs, and a foot section that supports the calves and feet of thepatient 114. One or more of the deck sections are movable relative tothe upper frame of upper frame assembly 120. For example, the headsection pivotably raises and lowers relative to the seat section whereasfoot section 44 pivotably raises and lowers relative to the thighsection. Additionally, the thigh section 43 articulates relative to theseat section. Also, in some embodiments, the foot section 44 isextendable and retractable to change the overall length of the footsection and therefore, to change the overall length of mattress supportdeck 134. Additional details of suitable embodiments of bed 102 isfound, for example, in U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2018/0161225 A1 which is hereby incorporated by reference herein for allthat teaches to the extent not inconsistent with the present disclosurewhich shall control as to any inconsistencies.

As noted above, bed 102 includes radar support mount 104 that, in turn,supports radar sensors 106, 108, 110. In the illustrative example, radarsupport mount 104 includes a generally vertically oriented column ormast 104 a and a generally horizontally oriented arm 104 b extending ina cantilevered manner from an upper end of mast 104 a so as to overliemattress 148 of bed 102 and the patient 114 supported thereon. Arm 104 bhas a distal end region 104 c to which radar sensor 106 is coupled. Arm104 b is situated generally vertically above a longitudinal centerlineof bed 102. Radar support mount 104 further includes right and left arms104 d, 104 e that extend in a cantilevered manner from right and leftsides, respectively, of arm 104 b. When viewed from above, arm 104 bincluding its distal end region 104 c and arms 104 d, 104 e resemble across.

In some embodiments, radar sensors 106, 108, 110 are movable alongrespective arms 104 b, 104 d, 104 e so that the trajectory of the radarbeams from sensors 106, 108, 110 can be adjusted by a large or grossamount as compared to the amount of adjustment possible using beamforming techniques. For example, clamps or locks associated with each ofsensors 106, 108, 110 may be manually locked and released to permitsensors 106, 108, 110 to be manually repositioned along tracks, guides,rods, bars, or the like included in respective arms 104 b, 104 d, 104 ein some contemplated embodiments. Alternatively, sensors 106, 108, 110may be mounted to nuts that travel along lead screws which are manuallyrotated by hand cranks or knobs and which are included in arms 104 b,104 d, 104 e. Automated or motorized control of such lead screws usingmotors are also contemplated by the present disclosure with regard tothe manner of adjusting the positions of sensors 106, 108, 110 relativeto arms 104 b, 104 d, 104 e. Other automated adjustment mechanisms forrepositioning sensors 106, 108, 110 on mount 104, such as linearactuators, motorized sprocket and chain arrangements, motorized belt andpulley arrangements, and the like are also contemplated by the presentdisclosure. Embodiments in which arms 104 d, 104 e are repostionablealong arm 104 b in the longitudinal dimension thereof so as to move arms104 d, 104 e closer to and further from distal end region 104 c of arm104 b are also within the scope of the present disclosure. Similarmanual and/or automated repositioning mechanisms as those describedabove may be used for that purpose.

In some embodiments, a lower end of mast 104 a of mount 104 is coupledto the head end 124 of the upper frame of upper frame assembly 120 ofbed 102. In such embodiments, therefore, radar support mount 104 and theradar sensors 106, 108, 110 supported thereby raise, lower, and tiltrelative to base 118 as upper frame assembly 120 is raised, lowered, andtilted, respectively, by lift system 122. In other embodiments, thelower end of mast 104 a is coupled to the head end of base 118 of bed102. In such embodiments, mount 104 and sensors 106, 108, 110 remainstationary as upper frame assembly 120 is raised, lowered, and tilted bylift system 122 relative to base 118. As mentioned above, in still otherembodiments, mount 104 comprises a freestanding frame, such as onehaving casters for mobility, that is moved into position over bed 102,for example.

In some embodiments, mast 104 a of mount 104 is telescopic so as tolengthen and shorten in the generally vertical direction. Thus,extending mast 104 a telescopically raises arms 104 b, 104 d, 104 e andthe associated radar sensors 106, 108, 110 relative to mattress 148 andthe patient 114 thereon, whereas retracting mast 104 a telescopicallylowers arms 104 b, 104 d, 104 e and the associated radar sensors 106,108, 110 relative to mattress 148 and the patient 114 thereon. In suchembodiments, mast 104 a includes at least first and second mastsegments, if not more, that are extendable and retractable relative toeach other such as with the use of one or more linear actuators, leadscrew drives (manual or automatic), and the like. Optionally, arm 104 bof mount 104 is telescopic to move distal end region 104 c and arms 104d, 104 e as a unit over the mattress 148 and patient 114 in a generallyhorizontal direction defined by the longitudinal dimension of arm 104 b.In such embodiments, arm 104 b includes at least first and second armsegments, if not more, that are extendable and retractable relative toeach other such as with the use of one or more linear actuators, leadscrew drives (manual or automatic), and the like. The adjustability ofthe locations of sensors 106, 108, 110, both generally vertically andgenerally horizontally, as discussed above allows the disclosed patientmonitoring system using radar sensors 106, 108, 110 to account forpatients of different sizes and to account for the particular positionof the patient 114 on bed 102 between the head end 124 and foot end 126.

It is contemplated by the present disclosure that, in some embodiments,the portions of bed circuitry 112 that control movement of portions ofbed 102 communicate with the portions of circuitry 112 that controlsoperation of radar sensors 106, 108, 110 to alter the operation of radarsensors 106, 108, 110 under certain conditions. For example, if the headsection of mattress support deck 134 is pivotably raised at a head ofbed (HOB) angle that exceeds a threshold amount, say about 15 to about30 degrees just to give an arbitrary threshold range, then use of radarsensors 106, 108, 110 may become disabled by circuitry 112 in someembodiments. This is because the inclination of the patient's torso atsuch steep angles may negatively affect the ability of sensors 106, 108,110 and circuitry 112 to accurately sense the heart rate, respirationrate, and/or position of the patient. In this regard, it will beappreciated that bed 102 includes an angle sensor such as anaccelerometer, inclinometer, rotary potentiometer, string potentiometer,ball switch, mercury switch, and the like that is coupled to circuitry112 and that is used to sense the HOB angle of the head section ofmattress support deck 134 of bed 102. To give another example, ifcircuitry 112 analyzes image intensity (e.g., lightness or darkness) ofvarious zones of an image generated by radar sensors 106, 108, 110(e.g., see the discussion below of FIGS. 4A-4C) and compares the lightintensity to various threshold intensity values for determining thepatient's heart rate, respiration rate, position, health condition,etc., it may be desirable to use different light intensity thresholdvalues depending upon on how close the patient is to radar sensors 106,108, 110. Thus, in some embodiments, circuitry 112 analyzes the heightand/or tilt of upper frame assembly 120 relative to base 118 and/or theamount of extension or retraction of mast 104 a and then adjusts theimage intensity threshold values accordingly.

Referring now to FIG. 2 , a system 200 for monitoring a patient usingradar sensors includes the radar sensors 106, 108, 110, the bedcircuitry 112, and a display 202. The bed circuitry 112 may be connectedover a network 204 to additional components, such as an electronicmedical records server 206, a nurse call system 208, a status board 210,a communication system 212, and one or more mobile compute devices 214.In use, the bed circuitry 112 may communicate monitoring information ofthe patient to other components of the system 200. For example, the bedcircuitry 112 may monitor the heart rate of a patient 114 and send theheartrate of the patient 114 to the electronic medical records server206 to be stored as part of the medical record of the patient 114. Thebed circuitry 112 may also send the heartrate of the patient 114 to thenurse call system 208, allowing the heartrate to be presented on astatus board 210 and/or sent to mobile compute devices 214 carried bynurses.

The display 202 may be local to the bed circuitry 112, such as a displayon one or more of the siderails 140, 142 of the patient bed 102. Thedisplay 202 may be any suitable display, such as an LCD display, an LEDdisplay, a laser display, and/or the like. The display 202 is operableunder the control of circuitry 112 to show information, including imagedata, sensed by radar sensors 106, 108, 110 in some embodiments.Moreover, in some embodiments, display 202 comprises a graphical userinterface (GUI) that is also operable to display user inputs for controlof various features and functions of bed 102 including control ofcomponents associated with mattress 148 and control of movable portionsof frame 116.

The network 204 may be any suitable network. In the illustrativeembodiment, the network 204 is an Ethernet network. Additionally oralternatively, the network 204 may be embodied as a Wi-Fi® network, aBluetooth® network, a WiMAX network, a near field communication (NFC)network, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 3 , in an illustrative embodiment, the bedcircuitry 112 establishes an environment 300 during operation. Theillustrative environment 300 includes a radar controller 302, a chestmobility monitor 304, a breathing pattern monitor 306, an alarm manager308, and a communication controller 310. The various modules of theenvironment 300 may be embodied as hardware, software, firmware, or acombination thereof. For example, the various modules, logic, and othercomponents of the environment 300 may form a portion of, or otherwise beestablished by, a processor, memory, or other hardware components of thebed circuitry 112. As such, in some embodiments, one or more of themodules of the environment 300 may be embodied as circuitry orcollection of electrical devices (e.g., radar controller circuitry 302,chest mobility monitor circuitry 304, breathing pattern monitorcircuitry 306, etc.). It should be appreciated that, in suchembodiments, one or more of the circuits (e.g., the radar controllercircuitry 302, the chest mobility monitor circuitry 304, the breathingpattern monitor circuitry 306, etc.) may form a portion of one or moreof the processor, the memory, the data storage, and/or other componentsof the bed circuitry 112. Additionally, in some embodiments, one or moreof the illustrative modules may form a portion of another module and/orone or more of the illustrative modules may be independent of oneanother. Further, in some embodiments, one or more of the modules of theenvironment 300 may be embodied as virtualized hardware components oremulated architecture, which may be established and maintained by theprocessor or other components of the bed circuitry 112.

The radar controller 302, which may be embodied as hardware, firmware,software, virtualized hardware, emulated architecture, and/or acombination thereof as discussed above, is configured to interface withthe radar sensors 106, 108, 110. The radar controller 302 may sendcommands to the radar sensors 106, 108, 110, configure the radar sensors106, 108, 110, and receive data from the radar sensors 106, 108, 110. Inthe illustrative embodiment, the radar controller 302 receivesindications of the signals received by the radar sensors 106, 108, 110,such as the intensity, phase, electric field, etc., received at eachreceiver of the radar sensors 106, 108, 110. In some embodiments, theradar sensors 106, 108, 110 may perform some pre-processing beforesending data to the radar controller 302, such as by processing datareceived to determine the location and/or velocity of objects thatreflected waves to the radar sensors 106, 108, 110.

The chest mobility monitor 304, which may be embodied as hardware,firmware, software, virtualized hardware, emulated architecture, and/ora combination thereof as discussed above, is configured to analyze datafrom the radar sensors 106, 108, 110 to monitor the mobility of thechest of the patient 114. The chest mobility monitor 304 may monitor aposition of different portions of the patient, such as the right half ofthe chest of the patient 114, the left half of the chest of the patient114, and the abdomen of the patient 114. For example, in oneillustrative embodiment, the chest mobility monitor 304 may monitor aright chest zone 402A, a left chest zone 404A, and an abdomen zone 406A,as shown in FIG. 4A. In FIG. 4A, the right chest zone 402A may belagging behind the left chest zone 404A as the patient takes breaths,indicating a unilateral lung or pleural disease on the patient's rightlung. In FIG. 4B, the left chest zone 404B may be lagging behind theright chest zone 402B, indicating a unilateral lung or pleural diseaseon the patient's right lung. In FIG. 4C, the abdomen zone 406C may notmove an expected amount compared to the right chest zone 402C and theleft chest zone 404C, indicating that the patient is breathing fromtheir chest rather than their belly.

The chest mobility monitor 304 may determine various parameters relatedto chest mobility, such as chest expansion distance, monitor tidalvolume, chest asymmetry during breathing, and belly expansion. A chestexpansion distance (as measured by a change in circumference of thechest) of 2-5″ may indicate a normal chest expansion distance. A chestexpansion distance less than 2″ (or a decrease in chest expansiondistance, even if it is still about 2″) may indicate a lung or pleuraldisease or condition. An asymmetry in the chest during breathing such asone side expanding less and/or after the other side may indicate aunilateral lung or pleural disease. A patient breathing from their chest(as opposed to their belly), which may occur, e.g., after surgery, canincrease the chance of developing pneumonia. If chest breathing isdetected, a patient can be coached to breathing from the belly. Thechest mobility monitor 304 may store chest mobility data, locally and/orremotely, to allow for current or future analysis of chest mobilitydata.

The breathing pattern monitor 306, which may be embodied as hardware,firmware, software, virtualized hardware, emulated architecture, and/ora combination thereof as discussed above, is configured to analyze chestmobility data provided by the chest mobility monitor 304 to determinebreathing data. The breathing pattern monitor 306 may determineparameters such as a breathing rate, breathing depth,inspiratory/expiratory time ratio. A breathing rate that is too high ortoo low may indicate certain conditions. Shallow breathing can bedetected based on the breathing rate and breathing depth. Cheyne-Stokesbreathing, in which breathing increases and decreases in depth alongwith recurring periods where the patient does not breathe at all.Cheyne-Stokes breathing can indicate severe head trauma and/or altitudesickness. Kussmaul breathing, in which the patient breathes deeply andrapidly, may indicate that a person is in diabetic ketoacidosis. Thebreathing pattern monitor 306 may store breathing data, locally and/orremotely, to allow for current or future analysis of breathing data.

The alarm manager 308, which may be embodied as hardware, firmware,software, virtualized hardware, emulated architecture, and/or acombination thereof as discussed above, is configured to determinewhether an alarm should be triggered based on the chest mobility orbreathing of the patient. An alarm may be triggered based on anysuitable measurement of the patient's condition. For example, an alarmmay be triggered if chest expansion distance drops below a threshold orchanges by a threshold amount, if a tidal volume drops below a thresholdamount or changes by a threshold amount, if an asymmetry in chestmovement is detected during breathing, if chest breathing is detected,if a breathing rate above a threshold is detected, if a breathing ratebelow a threshold is detected, if shallow breathing is detected, ifCheyne-Stokes breathing is detected, and/or is Kussmaul breathing isdetected. In some embodiments, a baseline for various breathingparameters may be determined based on past breathing data of a patient,and if one or more breathing parameters of the patient deviate from thebaseline (such as by a specific amount and/or time), then an alarm maybe triggered. The alarm manager 308 may trigger an alarm in any suitableway, such as by making a local visible or audible alarm, sending amessage to be displayed on the status board 210, sending a message toone or more mobile compute devices 214 of caregivers, etc. It should beappreciated that, in some embodiments, some or all of the alarm manager308 may be located separately from the patient bed 102 and/or separatelyfrom other components of the bed circuitry 112. For example, in someembodiments, the alarm manager 308 may form part of the nurse callsystem 208 or the status board 210.

The communication controller 310 is configured to communicate with otherdevices, such as the electronic medical records server 206 or the nursecall system 208. As discussed above, the communication controller 310may communicate with other devices directly or indirectly through, forexample, Ethernet, Bluetooth®, Wi-Fi®, WiMAX, near field communication(NFC), etc.

It should be appreciated that the radar sensors 106, 108, 110 may beconfigured in different location than over the patient 114 in thepatient bed 102. For example, in FIG. 5 , a patient bed 500 includes aright radar sensor 502 positioned in a right siderail 503 of the patientbed 500, a head radar sensor 504 located in a headboard 505 at the headend of the patient bed 500, a left radar sensor 506 positioned in a leftsiderail 507 of the patient bed 500, and a foot radar sensor 508 locatedin a footboard 509 at the foot end of the patient bed 500. Each radarsensor 502, 504, 506, 508 is connected to bed circuitry 510 located inthe patient bed 500 below the patient 512, such as on the lower frame orbase 511 of bed 500. Each radar sensor 502, 504, 506, 508 (and otherradar sensors discussed throughout the present disclosure) may besimilar to the radar sensors 106, 108, 110, and the bed circuitry 510(and other circuitry discussed throughout the present disclosure) may besimilar to the bed circuitry 112. The description of those components,and similar components described throughout the present disclosure, willnot be repeated in the interest of clarity. It should be appreciatedthat, instead of a top-down view, the radar sensors 502, 504, 506, 508provide a side view of the patient as shown in FIG. 6 . This viewprovides different measurement data compared to the radar sensors 106,108, 110. For example, zooming in on a chest region 602 of the patient512, a chest breathing depth 700, shown graphically in FIG. 7 , may bemeasured based on the chest of the patient occluding different portionsof the field of view of the radar sensors 502, 504, 506, 508. It shouldbe appreciated that any combination of radar sensors 502, 504, 506, 508and radar sensors 106, 108, and 110 may be used in various embodiments.In some embodiments, some or all of radar sensors 502, 504, 506, 508 maybe used in conjunction with some or all of radar sensors 106, 108, 110,such as by measuring the same parameter such as chest movement depthfrom two different perspectives.

In another configuration, as shown in FIG. 8 , a patient bed 802 mayhave one or more radar sensors 804 connected to bed circuitry 806located over the center of the patient 808 without any radar sensors onthe sides. Bed 802 of FIG. 8 is substantially the same as bed 102 ofFIG. 1 and so the discussion above of bed 102 is equally applicable tobed 802. Furthermore, a radar support mount 8104 is used in connectionwith bed 802 in the same manner as discussed above in connection withmount 104 used with bed 102. Thus, the discussion above of mount 104,including all of the variants thereof, is equally applicable to mount8104. Thus, for example, mount 8104 includes a generally verticallyoriented column or mast 8104 a and a generally horizontal arm 8104 bhaving a distal end region 8104 c to which radar sensor 804 is coupled.The discussion above of mast 104 a is equally applicable to mast 8104 aand the discussion above of arm 104 b is equally applicable to arm 8104b.

In another configuration, as shown in FIG. 9 , a stand-alone mobileradar unit 902 may have a radar sensor 904 positioned near the top ofthe mobile radar unit 902. The radar sensor 904 may be configured tomonitor a chest area of a patient 906 as suggested by the diagrammaticrectangular box shown on patient 906 in FIG. 9 . Each of the componentsidentified in FIGS. 8 & 9 may be similar to the corresponding componentsidentified in FIG. 1 , the description of which will not be repeated inthe interest of clarity. Mobile radar unit 902 includes a wheeled base908 having casters 910 coupled thereto. Mobile radar unit 902 furtherincludes a generally vertically oriented pole or mast 912 extendingupwardly from base 908. A pivotable arm 914 extends from an upper region912 a of pole 912 and radar sensor 904 is mounted to a distal end of arm914 in spaced relation with pole 912. Arm 914 is pivotable upwardly anddownwardly relative to pole 912 to adjust a height at which radar sensor904 is supported above the floor.

In some embodiments, arm 914 is movable vertically along pole 912 toprovide further adjustment of the vertical position of radar sensor 904relative to the floor. For example, a lockable and releasable collar maybe coupled to pole 912 and arm 914 may extend from the collar. Whenreleased, the collar is movable upwardly and downwardly along pole 912and then lockable in the desired position. A clamp, lock, thumb screw,or similar releasable locking device is provided in some embodiments forlocking the collar relative to pole 912. Mobile radar unit 902 withradar sensor 904 is well suited for obtaining patient monitoring datafrom patients who are standing up such as may be the case during amedical examination at a doctor's office, for example.

Referring now to FIG. 10A, in use, a method 1000 for monitoring apatient with radar may be performed. In some embodiments, some or all ofthe method 1000 may be performed by the bed circuitry 112. Additionallyor alternatively, in some embodiments, the bed circuitry 112 may providedata such as a breathing rate, and a caregiver may monitor the data fromthe bed circuitry 112 to determine whether the patient has, e.g.,Cheyne-Stokes breathing. The method 1000 begins in block 1002, in whichthe bed circuitry 112 receives a signal from one or more radar sensors106, 108, 110 monitoring a patient's chest and abdomen. The bedcircuitry 112 may receive the raw signal received by an antenna of aradar sensor 106, 108, 110. In some embodiments, the radar sensors 106,108, 110 may perform some pre-processing before sending data to the bedcircuitry 112, such as by processing data received to determine thelocation and/or velocity of objects that reflected waves to the radarsensors 106, 108, 110.

In block 1004, the bed circuitry 112 analyzes the radar signal for chestmobility. The bed circuitry 112 may group the patient's chest intoareas, such as a right chest area, a left chest area, and an abdomenarea. The bed circuitry 112 may determine a position and/or velocity ofeach area. Of course, it should be appreciated that the radar signal maybe analyzed in many different ways to determine mobility of thepatient's chest.

In block 1006, the bed circuitry 112 determines the chest expansiondistance. In the illustrative embodiment, the bed circuitry 112determines a circumference of the patient's chest, and the chestexpansion distance is the change in circumference of the patient's chestover the course of one or more breaths. Additionally or alternatively,in some embodiments the bed circuitry 112 may monitor a change in heightof the patient's chest, and use the change in height as an indication ofthe chest expansion distance. See FIG. 7 and the above discussionthereof in this regard.

In block 1008, the bed circuitry 112 determines the tidal volume overthe course of one breath. For example, a change in volume of thepatient's chest between a minimum and maximum value over a relativelyshort time frame, such as about five to about ten seconds, may beattributable to the volume of air inhaled and then exhaled by thepatient. In block 1010, the bed circuitry 112 monitors chest asymmetryduring breathing. The bed circuitry 112 may do so by monitoring theheight over time of the right chest area compared to the left chestarea. If the height of one chest area peaks at a lower value and/or lagsbehind the other chest area, the patient may have an asymmetry inbreathing. See FIGS. 4A and 4B and the above discussion thereof in thisregard.

In block 1012, the bed circuitry 112 monitors for chest and bellybreathing. To do so, the bed circuitry 112 may determine whether theabdomen area expands at least a threshold amount when the patient takesa breath. See FIG. 4C and the above discussion thereof in this regard.

In block 1014, the bed circuitry 112 monitors the breathing pattern ofthe patient. The bed circuitry 112 may determine a breathing rate inblock 1016. The bed circuitry 112 may analyze the patient's breathingfor Cheyne-Stokes breathing in block 1018, in which breathing increasesand decreases in depth along with recurring periods where the patientdoes not breathe at all. Cheyne-Stokes breathing can indicate severehead trauma and/or altitude sickness. The bed circuitry 112 may analyzethe patient's breathing for Kussmaul respiration in block 1020, in whichthe patient breathes deeply and rapidly and may indicate that a personis in diabetic ketoacidosis. In block 1022, the bed circuitry 112 mayanalyze the breathing pattern of the patient for apnea.

The method 1000 proceeds to block 1024 in FIG. 10B, in which the bedcircuitry 112 determines whether the chest mobility and/or breathingpattern of the patient indicates that an alarm should be triggered. Thebed circuitry 112 may be configured to trigger an alarm based on anysuitable measurement of the patient's condition. For example, an alarmmay be triggered if chest expansion distance drops below a threshold orchanges by a threshold amount, if a tidal volume drops below a thresholdamount or changes by a threshold amount, if an asymmetry in chestmovement is detected during breathing, if chest breathing is detected,if a breathing rate above a threshold is detected, if a breathing ratebelow a threshold is detected, if shallow breathing is detected, ifCheyne-Stokes breathing is detected, and/or is Kussmaul breathing isdetected.

In block 1026, if an alarm is not to be triggered, the method 1000 jumpsto block 1034, in which the chest mobility and breathing data is stored.If the alarm is to be triggered, the method proceeds to block 1028, inwhich the bed circuitry 112 triggers an alarm. The bed circuitry 112 maytrigger a local alarm, such as by making a local visible or audiblealarm, in block 1030. Additionally or alternatively, the bed circuitry112 may trigger a remote alarm, such as by sending an alarm to the nursecall system 208 in block 1032. The alarm may result in a message beingdisplayed on the status board 210, a message being sent to one or moremobile compute devices 214 of caregivers, a message being displayed on adisplay of bed 102, etc. It should be appreciated that, in someembodiments, some or all of the analysis of whether an alarm should betriggered may be performed separately from the patient bed 102 and/orseparately from at least some components of the bed circuitry 112. Forexample, in some embodiments, the nurse call system 208 may determinewhether to trigger an alarm.

In block 1034, the bed circuitry 112 stores chest mobility and breathingdata. The bed circuitry 112 may store the chest and mobility breathingdata locally in block 1036, which can then be used to determine, e.g.,if there is a change in a rate of a patient's breathing. Additionally oralternatively, in some embodiments, the bed circuitry 112 may send chestmobility and breathing data to an electronic medical records server inblock 1038 and/or send chest mobility and breathing data to a nurse callsystem in block 1040. The method 1000 then loops back to block 1002 inFIG. 10A to receive additional data from radar sensors 106, 108, 110.

Referring now to FIG. 11 , a patient bed 1102 may include a radar sensor1104 connected to bed circuitry 1106 that is embedded in or below amattress of the patient bed so that the radar sensor 1104 is below thepatient 1108. Bed 1102 of FIG. 11 is substantially the same as bed 102of FIG. 1 and therefore, the discussion above of bed 102 is equallyapplicable to bed 1102. In use and as described in more detail below,the radar sensor 1104 may be used to monitor breathing sounds of thepatient 1108 and to determine whether the patient is, e.g., wheezing. Itshould be appreciated that, in some embodiments, the radar 1104positioned below the patient 1106 may be used to monitor chest mobilityand/or breathing patterns, as described above in regard to radar sensors106, 108, 110. Additionally or alternatively, it should be appreciatedthat, in some embodiments, the radar sensors 106, 108, 110 may be usedin a similar manner as the radar sensor 1104 to detect the sound of thepatient 114 breathing. Each of the radar sensor 1104 and the bedcircuitry 1106 may be similar to the radar sensors 106, 108, 110 and bedcircuitry 112, respectively, the description of which will not berepeated in the interest of clarity. Additional details of the use ofone or more radar sensors in mattresses or adjacent to mattresses, suchas being situated on the mattress support deck beneath the mattress, canbe found in U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2019/0015277 A1 and2019/0167500 A1, each of which is hereby incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety to the extent not inconsistent with the presentdisclosure which shall control as to any inconsistencies.

Referring now to FIG. 12 , in an illustrative embodiment, the bedcircuitry 1106 may establish an environment 1202 during operation. Theillustrative environment 1202 includes a radar controller 1204, anelectronic stethoscope monitor 1206, a communication controller 1208,and a sound classifier 1210. The various modules of the environment 1202may be embodied as hardware, software, firmware, or a combinationthereof. For example, the various modules, logic, and other componentsof the environment 1202 may form a portion of, or otherwise beestablished by, a processor, memory, or other hardware components of thebed circuitry 1106. As such, in some embodiments, one or more of themodules of the environment 1202 may be embodied as circuitry orcollection of electrical devices (e.g., radar controller circuitry 1104,electronic stethoscope monitor circuitry 1206, communication controllercircuitry 1208, etc.). It should be appreciated that, in suchembodiments, one or more of the circuits (e.g., the radar controllercircuitry 1104, the electronic stethoscope monitor circuitry 1206, thecommunication controller circuitry 1208, etc.) may form a portion of oneor more of the processor, the memory, the data storage, and/or othercomponents of the bed circuitry 1106. Additionally, in some embodiments,one or more of the illustrative modules may form a portion of anothermodule and/or one or more of the illustrative modules may be independentof one another. Further, in some embodiments, one or more of the modulesof the environment 1202 may be embodied as virtualized hardwarecomponents or emulated architecture, which may be established andmaintained by the processor or other components of the bed circuitry1106.

The radar controller 1204, which may be embodied as hardware, firmware,software, virtualized hardware, emulated architecture, and/or acombination thereof as discussed above, is configured to interface withthe radar sensor 1104. The radar controller 1204 may send commands tothe radar sensor 1104, configure the radar sensor 1104, and receive datafrom the radar sensor 1104. In the illustrative embodiment, the radarcontroller 1204 receives indications of the signals received by theradar sensor 1104 such as the intensity, phase, electric field, etc.,received at each receiver of the radar sensor 1104. In some embodiments,the radar sensor 1104 may perform some pre-processing before sendingdata to the radar controller 1204, such as by processing data receivedto produce a sound waveform corresponding to the sound of the patient1108 breathing.

The electronic stethoscope monitor 1206, which may be embodied ashardware, firmware, software, virtualized hardware, emulatedarchitecture, and/or a combination thereof as discussed above, isconfigured to analyze the radar signal received from the radarcontroller 1204 to generate a sound waveform corresponding to the userbreathing. In some embodiments, the electronic stethoscope monitor 1206may apply a spatial filter to information received from the radarcontroller 1204 so that a particular spatial location (such as a user'sback) is used to generate the sound waveform. Additionally oralternatively, the electronic stethoscope monitor 1206 may apply one ormore filters or amplifiers to the generated sound waveform.

The communication controller 1208 is configured to communicate withother devices, such as the electronic medical records server 206 or thenurse call system 208. The communication controller 1208 may communicatewith other devices directly or indirectly through, for example,Ethernet, Bluetooth®, Wi-Fi®, WiMAX, near field communication (NFC),etc.

The sound classifier 1210, which may be embodied as hardware, firmware,software, virtualized hardware, emulated architecture, and/or acombination thereof as discussed above, is configured to classify thesound waveform generated by the electronic stethoscope monitor 1206. Thesound classifier 1210 may apply a wheezing classifier 1212. The wheezingclassifier 1212 may monitor for wheezing sounds, such as variable highpitched but continuous sound on expiration. Wheezing sounds may be anindication of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD),allergies, or anaphylaxis.

The sound classifier 1210 may apply a stridor classifier 1214. Thestridor classifier 1214 may monitor for stridor sounds of a single highpitched sound that is continuous on inspiration. Stridor may be anindication of croup, epiglottitis, or a foreign object.

The sound classifier 1210 may apply a coarse crackles classifier 1216.The coarse crackles classifier 1216 may monitor for low pitch, brief,discontinuous popping/bubbling sounds on inspiration and/or expiration.The coarse crackles may be cleared by the patient 1108 coughing. Coarsecrackles may be an indication of pneumonia, bronchitis, asbestosis, orpulmonary edema.

The sound classifier 1210 may apply a fine crackles classifier 1218. Thefine crackles classifier 1218 may monitor for higher pitched, finepopping noises during the late inspiratory phase. Fine crackles may bean indication of atelectasis, pulmonary fibrosis, or pulmonary edema.

The sound classifier 1210 may apply a pleural rub classifier 1220. Thepleural rub classifier 1220 may monitor for a creaking or grating soundduring inspiration. A pleural rub sound may indicate inflammation of thepleura due to infection, injury, or tumor.

The sound classifier 1210 may apply a no sound classifier 1222. No soundmay indicate that the patient is not breathing or that the patient 1108has moved, such as gotten out of the patient bed 1102. In someembodiments, the sound classifier 1210 may classify no sound as apnea ifthe patient 1108 is still in the patient bed 1102 and has not movedsince a previous breath. Patient presence in bed 1102 may be determinedbased on a weigh scale system and/or patient position monitoring (PPM)system of the bed, such as those that use load cells to sense patientweight on a bed.

The sound classifier 1210 may apply a normal sound classifier 1224. Thenormal sound classifier may be configured to determine when the patient1108 has a normal breathing sound. It should be appreciated that, insome embodiments, the sound classifier 1210 may be able to classifyand/or ignore other sounds, such as sounds of a patient eating, talking,hiccoughing, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 13A, in use, a method 1300 for monitoring apatient with radar may be performed. In some embodiments, some or all ofthe method 1300 may be performed by the bed circuitry 1106. Additionallyor alternatively, in some embodiments, certain portions of the method1300 may be performed by a person, such as a caregiver of the patient.For example, the bed circuitry 1106 may provide data such as a soundwaveform, and a caregiver may listen to the waveform data from the bedcircuitry 1106 to determine, e.g., whether the patient is breathing. Themethod 1300 begins in block 1302, in which the bed circuitry 1106receives a noise signal from a radar sensor 1104. In the illustrativeembodiment, the bed circuitry 1106 generates a sound waveform based onthe radar signal in block 1304. In some embodiments, the bed circuitry1106 may receive a sound waveform from the radar sensor 1104 in block1306.

In block 1308, the bed circuitry 1106 classifies the sound waveform as atype of breathing noise. The bed circuitry 1106 may classify the soundwaveform as wheezing in block 1310. The bed circuitry 1106 may monitorfor wheezing sounds, such as variable high pitched but continuous soundon expiration. Wheezing sounds may be an indication of asthma, chronicobstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), allergies, or anaphylaxis.

The bed circuitry 1106 may classify the sound waveform as stridor inblock 1312. The bed circuitry 1106 may monitor for stridor sounds of asingle high pitched sound that is continuous on inspiration. Stridor maybe an indication of croup, epiglottitis, or a foreign object.

The bed circuitry 1106 may classify the sound waveform as coarsecrackles in block 1314. The bed circuitry 1106 may monitor for lowpitch, brief, discontinuous popping/bubbling sounds on inspirationand/or expiration. The coarse crackles may be cleared by the patient1108 coughing. Coarse crackles may be an indication of pneumonia,bronchitis, asbestosis, or pulmonary edema.

The bed circuitry 1106 may classify the sound waveform as fine cracklesin block 1316. The bed circuitry 1106 may monitor for higher pitched,fine popping noises during the late inspiratory phase. Fine crackles maybe an indication of atelectasis, pulmonary fibrosis, or pulmonary edema.

The bed circuitry 1106 may classify the sound waveform as a pleural rubin block 1318. The bed circuitry 1106 may monitor for a creaking orgrating sounds during inspiration. A pleural rub sound may indicateinflammation of the pleura due to infection, injury, or tumor.

The bed circuitry 1106 may classify the sound waveform as normal inblock 1320. The bed circuitry 1106 may be configured to determine whenthe patient 1108 has a normal breathing sound.

The bed circuitry 1106 may classify the sound waveform as apnea in block1322. The bed circuitry 1106 may classify the sound waveform as apnea ifno breathing sound is detected and the patient 1108 is still in thepatient bed 1102.

The method 1300 proceeds to block 1324 in FIG. 13B, in which thebreathing sound indicates that an alarm should be triggered. The bedcircuitry 1106 may be configured to trigger an alarm based on anysuitable measurement of the patient's condition. For example, an alarmmay be triggered if wheezing is detected, if stridor is detected, ifcoarse crackles are detected, if fine crackles are detected, if apleural friction rub is detected, or if apnea is detected.

In block 1326, if an alarm is not to be triggered, the method 1300 jumpsto block 1334, in which the breathing sound data is stored. If the alarmis to be triggered, the method proceeds to block 1328, in which the bedcircuitry 1106 triggers an alarm. The bed circuitry 1106 may trigger alocal alarm, such as by making a local visible or audible alarm, inblock 1330. Additionally or alternatively, the bed circuitry 1106 maytrigger a remote alarm, such as by sending an alarm to the nurse callsystem 208 in block 1332. The alarm may result in a message beingdisplayed on the status board 210, a message being sent to one or moremobile compute devices 214 of caregivers, etc. It should be appreciatedthat, in some embodiments, some or all of the analysis of whether analarm should be triggered may be performed separately from the patientbed 102 and/or separately from at least some components of the bedcircuitry 1106. For example, in some embodiments, the nurse call system208 may determine whether to trigger an alarm.

In block 1334, the bed circuitry 1106 stores breathing sound data. Thebed circuitry 1106 may store the chest and mobility breathing datalocally in block 1336, which can then be used to determine, e.g., ifthere is a change in a sound of a patient's breathing. Additionally oralternatively, in some embodiments, the bed circuitry 1106 may sendbreathing sound data to an electronic medical records server in block1338 and/or send breathing sound data to a nurse call system in block1340. The method 1300 then loops back to block 1302 in FIG. 13A toreceive additional data from the radar sensor 1104.

Referring now to FIGS. 14 and 15 , in one embodiment, a patient bed 1402includes one or more radar sensors 1404 connected to bed circuitry 1406.In the illustrative example, radar support mount 8104 is used to supportthe one or more radar sensors 1404 and circuitry 1406. Mount 810 wasdiscussed above in connection with FIG. 8 and the discussion is equallyapplicable to the use of mount 810 with bed 1402 of FIGS. 14 and 15 .The patient bed 1402 also includes one or more rotation bladders 1408that can inflate, causing a patient to rotate. For example, the rotationbladders 1408 may inflate to rotate a patient from lying in a supineposition as shown in FIG. 14 to a patient lying on the patient's leftside, as shown in FIG. 15 .

In use, the bed circuitry 1406 may be configured to monitor a positionof the patient using the radar sensor 1404 and turn the patient asnecessary. The radar sensor 1404 can be used to both determine when thepatient moves and to determine where a patient is. For example, if apatient has not rotated within a certain amount of time, such as thepast two hours, the bed circuitry 1406 may inflate the rotation bladders1408 to cause the patient to rotate to the patient's side (or deflatethe rotation bladders 1408 to rotate the patient back to a supineposition). In some embodiments, the bed circuitry 1406 may be configuredto determine a position of the patient on the bed using the radar sensor1406, and then inflate the rotation bladders 1408 that would cause themost rotation, such as the rotation bladders 1408 that are under thepatient's right side if the patient is to be rotated on her left side,as shown in FIG. 15 . Additionally or alternatively, the rotationbladders 1408 can be used to reposition a patient to a desired position

Referring now to FIG. 16 , in one embodiment, a patient bed 1602includes one or more radar sensors 1604 connected to bed circuitry 1606.Furthermore, a radar support mount 1605 is used in connection with bed1602 in the same manner as discussed above in connection with mount 104used with bed 102 of FIG. 1 and mount 8104 used with bed 802 of FIG. 8 .Thus, the discussion above of mounts 104, 8104, including all of thevariants thereof, is equally applicable to mount 1605. Thus, forexample, mount 1605 includes a generally vertically oriented column ormast 1605 a and a generally horizontal arm 1605 b having a distal endregion 1605 c to which radar sensor 1604 is coupled. The discussionabove of mast 104 a and mast 8104 a is equally applicable to mast 1605 aand the discussion above of arm 104 b and arm 8104 b is equallyapplicable to arm 1605 b. In the illustrative example of FIG. 16 , radarsupport mount 1605 has a floor supported base 1605 g without casters.Thus, it is contemplated that mount 1605 may remain stationary in aroom, or even to be anchored to the floor in the room, and the bed 1602with the patient is maneuvered into place relative to mount 1605 withthe radar sensor 1604 situated above the patient's torso.

Still referring to FIG. 16 , the patient bed 1602 also includes one ormore percussion and vibration (P & V) bladders 1608 that can rapidlyinflate and deflate, causing P & V on the area of the patient above theP & V bladders 1608. P & V treatment may be used to loosen and expelsecretions that collect in the lungs of pulmonary patients. The radarsensor 1604 can be used to monitor the position of the patient, and theP & V bladders 1608 that are under the patient's chest can be selectedfor the P & V therapy. Additionally or alternatively, in someembodiments, the radar sensor 1604 may monitor the magnitude of thevibration of the patient's chest caused by the P & V bladders 1608. Themagnitude of the vibrations of the P & V bladders 1608 can be tuned tocause an optimized vibration level of the patient's chest. In someembodiments, the patient bed 1602 may include P & V bladders 1608 androtation bladders 1408. The rotation bladders 1408 may be used toproperly position the patient over the P & V bladders 1608 for P & Vtherapy.

Referring now to FIG. 17 , in an illustrative embodiment, bed circuitry1700, which may be an embodiment of bed circuitry 1406 and/or bedcircuitry 1606, establishes an environment 1702 during operation. Theillustrative environment 1702 includes a patient orientation monitor1704, a patient position monitor 1706, a rotation bladder controller1708, and a P & V bladder controller 1710. The various modules of theenvironment 1702 may be embodied as hardware, software, firmware, or acombination thereof. For example, the various modules, logic, and othercomponents of the environment 1702 may form a portion of, or otherwisebe established by, a processor, memory, or other hardware components ofthe bed circuitry 1700. As such, in some embodiments, one or more of themodules of the environment 1702 may be embodied as circuitry orcollection of electrical devices (e.g., a patient orientation monitor1704, a patient position monitor 1706, a rotation bladder controller1708, etc.). It should be appreciated that, in such embodiments, one ormore of the circuits (e.g., the patient orientation monitor 1704, thepatient position monitor 1706, the rotation bladder controller 1708,etc.) may form a portion of one or more of the processor, the memory,the data storage, and/or other components of the bed circuitry 1700.Additionally, in some embodiments, one or more of the illustrativemodules may form a portion of another module and/or one or more of theillustrative modules may be independent of one another. Further, in someembodiments, one or more of the modules of the environment 1702 may beembodied as virtualized hardware components or emulated architecture,which may be established and maintained by the processor or othercomponents of the bed circuitry 1700.

The patient orientation monitor 1704, which may be embodied as hardware,firmware, software, virtualized hardware, emulated architecture, and/ora combination thereof as discussed above, is configured to monitor theorientation of the patient on a patient bed with use of one or moreradar sensors. The patient orientation monitor 1704 may monitor whetherthe patient is supine, prone, one the patient's side, etc. The patientorientation monitor 1704 saves the patient orientation data over time,allowing for determination of how long a patient has been lying in thesame orientation. The orientation determined by the patient orientationmonitor 1704 may be used as feedback for controlling the rotationbladders 1408 and/or the P & V bladders 1608.

The patient position monitor 1706, which may be embodied as hardware,firmware, software, virtualized hardware, emulated architecture, and/ora combination thereof as discussed above, is configured to monitor theposition of the patient on a patient bed with use of one or more radarsensors. The patient position monitor 1706 may monitor the position ofthe patient, such as where the patient is on the patient bed and wherethe patient is relative to the rotation bladders 1408 and/or the P & Vbladders 1608. The position determined by the patient position monitor1706 may be used as feedback for controlling the rotation bladders 1408and/or the P & V bladders 1608.

The rotation bladder controller 1708, which may be embodied as hardware,firmware, software, virtualized hardware, emulated architecture, and/ora combination thereof as discussed above, is configured to control therotation bladders 1408. The rotation bladder controller 1708 maydetermine when a rotation is necessary, such as by determining that thepatient has been lying on the same side for an amount of time that ispast a threshold amount of time. The threshold may be any suitablevalue, such as any time between 30 minutes and 5 hours, for example. Inthe illustrative embodiment, the threshold is 2 hours. In someembodiments, the rotation bladder controller 1708 may determine wherethe patient is on the patient bed, and control the rotation bladders1408 that will cause the patient to rotate from their current position.For example, the rotation bladder controller 1708 may cause the rotationbladders that are under the right side of the patient to inflate. Insome embodiments, the rotation bladder controller 1708 may control therotation bladders 1408 to cause the patient to move position, which maybe done to, e.g., position the patient over a desired portion of therotation bladders 1408 and/or the P & V bladders 1608.

The P & V bladder controller 1710, which may be embodied as hardware,firmware, software, virtualized hardware, emulated architecture, and/ora combination thereof as discussed above, is configured to control the P& V bladders 1608. The P & V bladder controller 1710 may determine whenP & V therapy is necessary, such as by determining that the patient hasnot had P & V therapy for an amount of time that is past a thresholdamount of time. The threshold may be any suitable value, such as anytime between 30 minutes and 24 hours. In the illustrative embodiment,the threshold is 2 hours. In some embodiments, the time threshold may bedetermined based on a patient's symptoms. In some embodiments, P & Vtherapy may be determined to be necessary based on the symptoms of thepatient. The P & V therapy may be initiated based on the patient'ssymptoms and/or the threshold time for performing P & V therapy may beset based on the symptoms of the patient.

To perform P & V therapy, the P & V bladder controller 1710 monitors theposition of the patient. If necessary, the P & V bladder controller 1710can move the patient to be located over the P & V bladders 1608.Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the P & V bladdercontroller 1710 may select the P & V bladders 1608 that are under thecurrent position of the patient. The P & V bladder controller 1710 maythen perform P & V therapy by inflating and deflating the selected P & Vbladders 1608. In some embodiments, the P & V bladder controller 1710may monitor the amplitude of the vibrations of the patient, such as byusing radar sensors. The amplitude of the inflation and deflation of theP & V bladders 1608 may be controlled based on the measured amplitude ofthe vibrations of the patient, forming a “closed loop” for the P & Vtherapy.

Referring now to FIG. 18 , in use, a method 1800 for rotating a patientmay be performed. In some embodiments, some or all of the method 1800may be performed by the bed circuitry 1700. Additionally oralternatively, in some embodiments, certain portions of the method 1800may be performed a person, such as a caregiver of the patient. Forexample, the bed circuitry 1700 may indicate that a patient has changedorientation for a certain period of time, and a caregiver may rotate thepatient in response to that indication. In another example, a caregivermay determine that a patient needs to be rotated and may initiate therotation by the bed circuitry 1700. The method 1800 begins in block1802, in which the bed circuitry 1700 determines whether the patientshould be rotated. In the illustrative embodiment, the bed circuitry1700 determines whether the patient should be rotated based on whetherthe patient has changed orientation in a predetermined period of time,such as the last two hours. The bed circuitry 1700 may determine whetherthe patient has changed orientation based on data from one or more radarsensors.

In block 1804, if the patient is not to be rotated, the method 1800loops back to block 1802 to determine whether the patient should berotated. If the patient is to be rotated, the method proceeds to block1806, in which the rotation bladders 1408 under one side of the patientare inflated. The rotation bladders 1408 to be inflated may be selectedbased on a position of the patient that can be determined based on oneor more radar sensors. It should be appreciated that, in someembodiments, the patient may be rotated by deflating the rotationbladders 1408, such as when the patient has already been rotated byinflation of the rotation bladders 1408.

In block 1808, the rotation of the patient is monitored. In someembodiments, the rotation of the patient is monitored with use of one ormore radar sensors. In block 1810, if the rotation is not complete, themethod 1800 proceeds to block 1812 to continue the rotation bycontrolling the rotation bladders 1408. If the rotation is complete, themethod 1800 proceeds to block 1814, in which the patient orientationdata is stored. The method 1800 then loops back to block 1802 todetermine whether the patient should be rotated.

Referring now to FIG. 19 , in use, a method 1900 for performing P & Vtherapy on a patient may be performed. In some embodiments, some or allof the method 1900 may be performed by the bed circuitry 1700.Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, certain portions ofthe method 1900 may be performed a person, such as a caregiver of thepatient. For example, a caregiver may determine that P & V therapyshould be performed, and the bed circuitry 1700 perform P & V therapy.The method 1900 begins in block 1902, in which the bed circuitry 1700determines whether to perform P &V therapy. The bed circuitry 1700 maydetermine whether P & V therapy is to be performed by determining thatthe patient has not had P & V therapy for an amount of time that is pasta threshold amount of time. The threshold may be any suitable value,such as any time between 30 minutes and 24 hours. In the illustrativeembodiment, the threshold is 2 hours. In some embodiments, the thresholdmay be determined based on a patient's symptoms. In some embodiments, P& V therapy may be determined to be necessary based on the symptoms ofthe patient. The P & V therapy may be initiated based on the patient'ssymptoms and/or the threshold time for performing P & V therapy may beset based on the symptoms of the patient.

In block 1904, if P & V therapy is not to be performed, the method 1900loops back to block 1902 to determine whether P & V therapy should beperformed. If P & V therapy is to be performed, the method 1900continues to block 1906, in which the bed circuitry 1700 receives asignal from a radar sensor monitoring a position of the patient. Inblock 1908, the bed circuitry 1700 determines whether the patient shouldbe repositioned for P & V therapy. For example, the bed circuitry 1700may determine that the patient should be positioned over the P & Vbladders 1608 prior to beginning the P & V therapy.

In block 1910, if the patient is to be repositioned, the method proceedsto block 1912 to reposition the patient over the P & V bladders 1608. Inthe illustrative embodiment, other bladders such as the rotationbladders 1408 may be used to reposition the patient.

After the patient is repositioned, or if no repositioning is required,the method 1900 proceeds to block 1914, where the bed circuitry 1700performs P & V therapy. The bed circuitry 1700 performs P & V therapy byrapidly inflating and deflating the P & V bladders 1608. In someembodiments, the bed circuitry 1700 may monitor the amplitude of thevibrations of the patient, such as by using radar sensors. The amplitudeof the inflation and deflation of the P & V bladders 1608 may becontrolled based on the measured amplitude of the vibrations of thepatient, forming a “closed loop” for the P & V therapy. After the P & Vtherapy is performed, the method loops back to block 1902 to determinewhether further P & V therapy is needed.

Referring now to FIG. 20A, in one embodiment, a patient bed 2002includes one or more radar sensors 2004 connected to bed circuitry 2006.Furthermore, the embodiment of FIG. 20A includes radar support mount1605 which was discussed above in connection with FIG. 16 and so thesame reference numbers are used in FIG. 20A to denote portions of mount1605. The patient bed 2002 also has a display 2008 positioned onfootboard 128 at the foot end 126 of the bed 2002, visible to thepatient. In use, the bed circuitry 2006 executes a program for helpingthe patient perform breathing exercises, such as by presenting on thedisplay 2008 breathing exercises for the patient to perform. Thebreathing exercises may be any suitable exercises, such as exercises forbreathing deeply, exercises for properly performing belly breathing asopposed to chest breathing, etc. The breathing of the patient can bemonitored using the radar sensor 2004, allowing for feedback that can beprovided to the bed circuitry 2006. In some embodiments, the breathingexercises can be “gamified,” such as by allowing a user to earn pointsor achievements based on time spent performing exercises or resultsobtained. The breathing exercises may be done while the patient issupine, siting up, or in any other suitable position.

It should be appreciated that use of radar sensors as feedback inperforming breathing exercises is not limited to patients that are in apatient bed. For example, as shown in FIG. 20B, in one embodiment, aradar sensor 2010 and a display 2012 are mounted on a mobile breathingexercise device 2009, allowing for a patient to perform breathingexercises while standing up, sitting, etc., in any suitable location.Mobile breathing exercises device 2009 is similar to radar unit 902which was discussed above in connection with FIG. 9 . Thus, device 2009includes a wheeled base 2016 having casters 2018 coupled thereto. Mobileradar unit 2009 further includes a generally vertically oriented pole ormast 2014 extending upwardly from base 2016. A pivotable arm 2020extends from an upper region 2014 a of pole 2014 and radar sensor 2010is mounted to a distal end of arm 2020 in spaced relation with pole2014. Arm 2020 is pivotable upwardly and downwardly relative to pole2014 to adjust a height at which radar sensor 2010 is supported abovethe floor.

In some embodiments, arm 2020 is movable vertically along pole 2014 toprovide further adjustment of the vertical position of radar sensor 2010relative to the floor. For example, a lockable and releasable collar maybe coupled to pole 2014 and arm 2020 may extend from the collar. Whenreleased, the collar is movable upwardly and downwardly along pole 2014and then lockable in the desired position. A clamp, lock, thumb screw,or similar releasable locking device is provided in some embodiments forlocking the collar relative to pole 2014. A similar collar and lockingdevice may be provided for coupling display 2012 to pole 2014 thereby toallow for vertical adjustment of display 2012 along pole 2014. Radarunit 2010 on mobile breathing exercise device 2009 is well suited forobtaining patient breathing data from patients who are standing up suchas may be the case during a medical examination at a doctor's office orduring a therapy session with a respiratory therapist, for example.

Referring now to FIG. 21 , in an illustrative embodiment, bed circuitry2006 establishes an environment 2100 during operation. The illustrativeenvironment 2100 includes a video instructor module 2102 and a breathingexercises monitor 2104. The various modules of the environment 2100 maybe embodied as hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof.For example, the various modules, logic, and other components of theenvironment 2100 may form a portion of, or otherwise be established by,a processor, memory, or other hardware components of the bed circuitry2006. As such, in some embodiments, one or more of the modules of theenvironment 2100 may be embodied as circuitry or collection ofelectrical devices (e.g., a video instructor circuit 2102, a breathingexercises monitor circuit 2104, etc.). It should be appreciated that, insuch embodiments, one or more of the circuits (e.g., the videoinstructor circuit 2102, the breathing exercises monitor circuit 2104,etc.) may form a portion of one or more of the processor, the memory,the data storage, and/or other components of the bed circuitry 2006.Additionally, in some embodiments, one or more of the illustrativemodules may form a portion of another module and/or one or more of theillustrative modules may be independent of one another. Further, in someembodiments, one or more of the modules of the environment 2100 may beembodied as virtualized hardware components or emulated architecture,which may be established and maintained by the processor or othercomponents of the bed circuitry 2006.

The video instructor module 2102, which may be embodied as hardware,firmware, software, virtualized hardware, emulated architecture, and/ora combination thereof as discussed above, is configured to provide videoinstructions for breathing exercises to a patient. The breathingexercises may be any suitable exercises, such as exercises for breathingdeeply, exercises for properly performing belly breathing as opposed tochest breathing, etc. In some embodiments, the breathing exercises canbe “gamified,” such as by allowing a user to earn points or achievementsbased on time spent performing exercises or results obtained. Thebreathing exercises may be done while the patient is supine, siting up,or in any other suitable position.

The breathing exercises monitor 2104, which may be embodied as hardware,firmware, software, virtualized hardware, emulated architecture, and/ora combination thereof as discussed above, is configured to monitor thepatient's breathing during the breathing exercises. The breathingexercises monitor 2104 may use one or more radar sensors to monitor achest, belly, and/or other parts of the patient to determine breathingparameters of the patient, such as how deeply the patient is breathing,whether the patient is doing belly breathing or chest breathing, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 22 , in use, a method 2200 for facilitatingmonitored breathing exercises by a patient may be performed. In someembodiments, some or all of the method 2200 may be performed by the bedcircuitry 2006. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments,certain portions of the method 2200 may be performed by a person, suchas a caregiver of the patient. For example, a caregiver may determinewhat breathing exercises should be done and configure the bed circuitry2006 to instruct the patient to perform those breathing exercises. Themethod 2200 begins in block 2202, in which the bed circuitry 2006determines a breathing exercise for a patient. The bed circuitry 2006may determine the breathing exercise in any suitable way, such as basedon symptoms of the patient, a configuration of a caregiver, etc. In someembodiments, in block 2204, the bed circuitry 2006 may determine anexercise based on past performance of the patient. For example, if thepatient successfully completed 10 minutes of breathing exercisespreviously, the bed circuitry 2006 may determine that 12 minutes ofbreathing exercises should be done.

In block 2206, the bed circuitry 2006 presents one or more instructionsof the exercise to the patient. For example, a video of a person oravatar may be presented on a display, such as display 2008 or display2012, and the user may be instructed to follow along with breathing in,breathing out, taking deep breaths, etc. In block 2208, the bedcircuitry 2006 monitors the patient performing the breathing exercisesbased on data acquired by radar sensor 2004 or radar sensor 2010, forexample. It should be appreciated that, in the illustrative embodiment,the bed circuitry 2006 provides the patient's performance as feedback.For example, if a patient is not breathing deeply enough or is chestbreathing instead of belly breathing, the bed circuitry 2006 may notifythe patient and instruct the patient on how to correctly perform thebreathing exercises. Such a notification appears on display 2008 ordisplay 2012 in some embodiments.

In block 2210, the bed circuitry 2006 saves the patient performance datafor the breathing exercises. The patient performance data may be used tomonitor a patient's progress, to develop a treatment plan, to determinefuture breathing exercises, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 23 , in one embodiment, one or more radar sensors2302 may be present in a location such as a hospital waiting room orwaiting area. In the illustrative embodiment, as described in moredetail below, the one or more radar sensors 2302 may be used to monitorvital signs of patients in a waiting room, such as heart rate,respiration, etc. In some embodiments, the one or more radar sensors2302 may be on a one or two axis mount, allowing the orientation of theone or more radar sensors 2302 to change to point in differentdirections. A rotation control mechanism 2310 can control theorientation of the one or more radar sensors to direct them at variousareas of the room, such as at various chairs 2306, couches, 2308, etc.and more particularly, to direct them at patients seated on the chairs2306 and couches 2308. In some embodiments, rotation control mechanism2310 comprises a motorized gimbal having movable gimbal frame elementsto which the one or more radar sensors 2302 are mounted. Othermechanisms 2310 may include movable linkages, arms, shafts and the likethat are movable by a motor to aim radar sensor(s) 2302 at the chairs2306, couches 2308, etc.

The one or more radar sensors 2302 are directly or indirectly connectedto a vital signs analysis server 2312 using one or more wired orwireless communication means. The vital signs analysis server 2312 maymonitor the vital signs of the patients on chairs 2306 and couches 2308or patients otherwise in the waiting area and may determine if the vitalsigns are such that intervention is warranted.

The vital signs analysis server 2312 may be connected over a network2314 to additional components, such as an electronic medical recordsserver 2316, a nurse call system 2318, a communication server 2320, astatus board 2322, staff stations 2324, and one or more mobile computedevices 2326. In use, vital signs analysis server 2312 may communicatemonitoring information of the patient to other components over thenetwork 2314. For example, the vital signs analysis server 2312 maymonitor the heart rate of a patient and send the heartrate of thepatient to the electronic medical records server 2316 to be stored aspart of the medical record of the patient. The vital signs analysisserver 2312 may also send the heartrate of the patient to the nurse callsystem 2318, allowing the heartrate to be presented on a status board2322, staff stations 2324, and/or sent to mobile compute devices 2326carried by caregivers.

In many instances, the identity of the patients seated on chairs 2306and couches 2308 in the waiting area are not known because the patientsmay choose to sit at any open seat and/or may not yet have been admittedinto the healthcare facility. Accordingly, in some embodiments, a seatlocation identification (ID) is assigned to each seating area of chairs2306 and couches 2308 and stored in server 2312. If intervention iswarranted, the seat location ID is presented on an appropriate displayof one or more of servers 2312, 2316, 2318, 2320 or devices 2322, 2324,2326, for example, along with the vital signs data causing the alertnotification to occur. A caregiver can then attend to the patientsitting or otherwise located at the area designated by the seat locationID. Thus, use of radar sensors 2302 to monitor patients in waiting areasassists caregivers in triaging and prioritizing the patients for medicalattention.

Referring now to FIG. 24 , in one embodiment, one or more radar sensors2402 may be present on one or more chairs 2404 and/or couches 2406 in aroom such as a hospital waiting room. In the illustrative embodiment, asdescribed in more detail below, the one or more radar sensors 2402 maybe used to monitor vital signs of patients in a waiting room, such asheart rate, respiration, etc. In the illustrative example, radar sensors2402 are situated within the backrests of chairs 2404 and couches 2406so that the radar sensors are aimed at the torsos of patients seated onchairs 2404 and couches 2406.

The one or more radar sensors 2402 are directly or indirectly connectedto a waiting area vital signs hub 2408 using one or more wired orwireless communication means. The waiting area vital signs hub 2408 maypass data from the one or more radar sensors 2402 indirectly or directlyto a vital signs analysis server 2410 using one or more wired orwireless communication means. The vital signs analysis server 2410 maymonitor the vital signs of the patients and may determine if the vitalsigns are such that intervention is warranted.

Similar to the vital signs analysis server 2312, the vital signsanalysis server 2410 may be connected over a network 2412 to additionalcomponents, such as one or more other waiting area vital signs hubs2414, an electronic medical records server 2416, a nurse call server2418, a communication server 2420, a status board 2422, staff stations2424, and one or more mobile compute devices 2426. In use, vital signsanalysis server 2410 may communicate monitoring information of thepatient to other components over the network 2412. Each of thecomponents in FIG. 24 may operate in a similar manner as thecorresponding component in FIG. 23 , which will not be repeated in theinterest of clarity. Moreover, seat location ID's may be assigned toeach of the seating locations of chairs 2404 and 2406 and stored in hub2408 and/or server 2410 in the same manner as discussed above inconnection with the embodiment of FIG. 23 .

Referring now to FIG. 25 , in use, a method 2500 for monitoring patientsin a waiting area may be performed. In some embodiments, some or all ofthe method 2500 may be performed by a vital signs analysis server, suchas the vital signs analysis server 2312 and/or the vital signs analysisserver 2410. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, certainportions of the method 2500 may be performed a person, such as acaregiver of the patient. For example, a vital signs analysis server maypresent patient vital signs to a caregiver, and a caregiver maydetermine that action should be taken, such as treating the patient ortriggering an alarm. The method 2500 begins in block 2502, in which thevital signs analysis server identifies patients in a waiting area. Thevital signs analysis server may identify patients in any suitablemanner, such as by using one or more radar sensors, image processingfrom images from a camera, identification of patients provided by acaregiver, identification of patients from other sensors, etc. In someembodiments, patients may be provided with a radiofrequencyidentification (RFID) tag that can be used to track and/or identify thepatient. Alternatively or additionally, the monitoring of patients atblock 2504 is done in connection with the seat location ID's such thatblock 2502 is omitted in some embodiments.

In block 2504, the vital signs analysis server monitors patients or seatlocations in a waiting area using data from one or more radar sensors.In block 2506, the vital signs analysis server monitors a heart rate ofeach of the identified patients or seat locations. In block 2508, thevital signs analysis sever monitors breathing patterns of each of theidentified patients or seat locations. It should be appreciated that, insome embodiments, data from the radar sensors may be analyzed for chestmobility and breathing patterns in a similar manner as described abovein regard to, e.g., blocks 1004-1022 in FIG. 10A, which will not berepeated in the interest of clarity. Additionally or alternatively, insome embodiments, different vital signs may be monitored.

In block 2510, the vital signs analysis server stores patient monitoringdata. The vital signs analysis server may store patient monitoring datafor a short time, such as for as long as the patient is in the waitingarea or at the hospital, or the vital signs analysis server may storepatient monitoring data for longer, such as by storing the patientmonitoring data in an electronic medical record associated with thepatient if the identity of the patient is known. Otherwise, the vitalsigns analysis server associates the vital signs data with the seatlocation and stores the vital signs data at least for as long as aparticular patient is at the seat location.

In block 2512, the vital signs analysis server determines whether thevital signs of the patient indicates that an alarm should be triggered.The vital signs analysis server may be configured to trigger an alarmbased on any suitable measurement of the patient's vital signs. Forexample, an alarm may be triggered if the heart rate is too high or, toolow, or matches a pattern of a problematic heart rate. An alarm may alsobe triggered if a problematic breathing pattern or chest expansion isdetected.

In block 2514, if an alarm is not to be triggered, the method 2500 loopsback to block 2504 to continue monitoring patients in the waiting area.If the alarm is to be triggered, the method 2500 proceeds to block 2516,in which the vital signs analysis server triggers an alarm. The vitalsigns analysis server may trigger a local alarm, such as by making alocal visible or audible alarm, in block 2518. Additionally oralternatively, the vital signs analysis server may trigger a remotealarm, such as by sending an alarm to the nurse call system in block2520. The alarm may result in a message being displayed on a statusboard, a message being sent to one or more mobile compute devices ofcaregivers, etc. The method 2500 then loops back to block 2504 tocontinue monitoring patients in the waiting area.

Referring now to FIG. 26 , a breathing therapy system 2602 can providevarious types of breathing therapy, such as continuous positive airwaypressure (CPAP) and/or cough assistance such as mechanicalinsufflation/exsufflation (MIE) therapy. The breathing therapy system2602 includes tubing 2604 that can be connected to a patient interface2606, such as a mask, mouthpiece, nasal cannula, etc. A pressure source2608 is connected to the external tubing 2604 through internal tubing2610. The pressure and/or flow in the tubing 2604, 2610 can be monitoredby one or more pressure and/or flow sensors 2612. A valve 2614 can beused to control the air flow and/or pressure delivered to tubing 2604from the pressure source 2608. Circuitry 2616 controls the breathingtherapy system 2602. The circuitry 2616 can be connected to the pressuresource 2608, the valve 2614, the pressure and/or flow sensors 2612, andone or more radar sensors 2618. In use, the one or more radar sensors2618 can be used to monitor a user's breathing pattern, allowing thebreathing therapy system 2602 to synchronize air flow with the user'sbreathing (e.g., inhalation and exhalation), as described in more detailbelow. The circuitry 2616 may also be connected to a graphical userinterface (GUI), which may include one or more buttons, one or moreswitches, a display, and/or the like.

In use, the circuitry 2616 establishes an environment 2622 duringoperation. The illustrative environment 2622 includes a breathingmonitor 2624 and an airflow controller 2626. The various modules of theenvironment 2622 may be embodied as hardware, software, firmware, or acombination thereof. For example, the various modules, logic, and othercomponents of the environment 2622 may form a portion of, or otherwisebe established by, a processor, memory, or other hardware components ofthe circuitry 2616. As such, in some embodiments, one or more of themodules of the environment 2622 may be embodied as circuitry orcollection of electrical devices (e.g., breathing monitor circuitry2624, airflow controller circuitry 2626, etc.). It should be appreciatedthat, in such embodiments, one or more of the circuits (e.g., thebreathing monitor circuitry 2624, the airflow controller circuitry 2626,etc.) may form a portion of one or more of a processor, a memory, a datastorage, and/or other components of the circuitry 2616. Additionally, insome embodiments, one or more of the illustrative modules may form aportion of another module and/or one or more of the illustrative modulesmay be independent of one another. Further, in some embodiments, one ormore of the modules of the environment 2622 may be embodied asvirtualized hardware components or emulated architecture, which may beestablished and maintained by the processor or other components of thecircuitry 2616.

The breathing monitor 2624, which may be embodied as hardware, firmware,software, virtualized hardware, emulated architecture, and/or acombination thereof as discussed above, is configured to monitor thebreathing of the user of the breathing therapy system 2602 with use ofone or more radar sensors 2618. The breathing monitor 2624 may monitor abreathing frequency, a breathing phase, a point in a user's breathingpattern, etc. For example, the breathing monitor 2624 may determine whena user is beginning to inhale, is done inhaling, is beginning to exhale,and is done exhaling. In some embodiments, the breathing monitor 2624may determine when a user has taken a large breath in, which mayindicate that the user is going to cough.

The airflow controller 2626, which may be embodied as hardware,firmware, software, virtualized hardware, emulated architecture, and/ora combination thereof as discussed above, is configured to control theairflow of the breathing therapy system 2602 into and out of the tubing2604. In the illustrative embodiment, the airflow controller 2626provides a positive pressure to the tubing 2604 when a patient isbreathing in, providing positive airway pressure to assist in breathingin. When a patient is breathing out, the airflow controller 2626 mayprovide a negative pressure or may not provide any pressure at all. Insome embodiments, the airflow controller 2626 may be configured toassist a user with a cough. The airflow controller 2626 may assist auser with a cough when a beginning of a cough is detected or when anexternal indication (such as a button press on the GUI 2620) isprovided. A beginning of a cough may be detected by a large inhale, atensing of the upper chest, a pause in airflow, and/or the beginning ofa rapid exhale. When a cough is detected, the airflow controller 2626can provide a strong, brief negative airflow, assisting the user of thebreathing therapy system 2602 with the cough. Thus, by equippingbreathing therapy system 2602 with one or more radar sensors 2618,circuitry 2622 is able to synchronize the operation of pressure source2608, which may be a blower in some embodiments, and valve 2614 with thepatient's breathing pattern by controlling pressure source 2608 andvalve 2614 based on an inspiratory trigger and/or an expiratory triggerdetermined from data acquired by the radar sensor(s) 2618.

Referring now to FIG. 27 , in use, a method 2700 for breath therapy of apatient may be performed. In some embodiments, some or all of the method2700 may be performed by circuitry 2616 of a breathing therapy system2602. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, certainportions of the method 2700 may be performed a person, such as acaregiver of the patient. The method 2700 begins in block 2702, in whichthe circuitry 2616 monitors the breathing of a user of the breathingtherapy system 2602 using data from one or more radar sensors 2618. Thecircuitry 2616 may determine a user breathing pattern in block 2704. Thecircuitry 2616 may determine a current stage of the breathing cycle ofthe user in block 2706, such as whether the user is beginning to inhale,is done inhaling, is beginning to exhale, or is done exhaling. In someembodiments, the circuitry 2616 may determine when a user has taken alarge breath in, which may indicate that the user is going to cough.

In block 2708, the circuitry 2616 controls the air pressure and/or airflow delivered to the tubing 2604 based on the monitored breathing. Inthe illustrative embodiment, the circuitry 2616 provides a positivepressure to the tubing 2604 when a patient is breathing in, providingpositive airway pressure to assist in breathing in. When a patient isbreathing out, the circuitry 2616 may provide a negative pressure or maynot provide any pressure at all. In some embodiments, the circuitry 2616may be configured to assist a user with a cough. The circuitry 2616 mayassist a user with a cough when a beginning of a cough is detected orwhen an external indication (such as a button press on the GUI 2620) isprovided. A beginning of a cough may be detected by a large inhale, atensing of the upper chest, a pause in airflow, and/or the beginning ofa rapid exhale. When a cough is detected, the circuitry 2616 can providea strong, brief negative airflow, assisting the user of the breathingtherapy system 2602 with the cough. The method 2700 then returns toblock 2702 to continue monitoring the user's breathing.

Referring now to FIG. 28 , in one embodiment, a crib 2802 has a radarsensor 2804 mounted on it, monitoring an infant supported by the crib2802. The radar sensor 2408 is connected to an infant breathing monitor2806. The infant breathing monitor 2806 includes circuitry that uses theradar sensor 2408 to monitor the infant's breathing. If the infant'sbreathing stops, suggesting a possible episode of sudden infant deathsyndrome (SIDS), the circuitry can trigger an alarm 2808 of the infantbreathing monitor 2806, alerting a parent or other caregiver to check onthe infant.

Referring now to FIG. 29 , in use, the infant breathing monitor 2806 canexecute a method 2900 for monitoring an infant breathing. The method2900 begins in block 2902, in which the infant breathing monitor 2806monitors the breathing of the infant in the crib 2802 using one or moreradar sensors 2804.

In block 2904, the infant breathing monitor 2806 determines whether analarm should be triggered. In the illustrative embodiment, an alarmshould be triggered if the infant has stopped breathing for apredetermined amount of time, such as any time from 10-30 seconds togive one arbitrary range of possible time thresholds.

In block 2906, if an alarm should not be triggered, the method 2900loops back to block 2902 to continue monitoring the breathing of theinfant. If the alarm should be triggered, the method 2900 proceeds toblock 2908, in which the infant breathing monitor 2806 triggers analarm. The infant breathing monitor 2806 may trigger an alarm in anysuitable manner, such as by sounding an audible or visible alarm orsending a message to a remote device such as a baby monitor. The method2900 then loops back to block 2902 to continue monitoring the breathingof the infant.

The discussion of bed 102 of FIG. 1 and its various component parts isequally applicable to beds 500, 802, 1102, 1402, 1602, 2002 of FIGS. 5,8, 11, 14 and 15, 16, and 20A, respectively, unless specifically notedotherwise.

Although certain illustrative embodiments have been described in detailabove, variations and modifications exist within the scope and spirit ofthis disclosure as described and as defined in the following claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system for monitoring breathing of apatient, the system comprising: a patient bed configured to support thepatient, the patient bed including a mattress having rotation bladdersoperable to rotate the patient and having percussion and vibration (P&V)bladders operable to loosen and expel secretions from the patient'slungs, wherein the patient bed includes a base, an upper frame assembly,and a lift system coupling the upper frame assembly to the base andoperable to raise, lower and tilt the upper frame assembly relative tothe base, a plurality of radar sensors coupled to the patient bed, theplurality of radar sensors being situated above the patient and spacedfrom the patient, each of the plurality of radar sensors beingconfigured to: transmit a radar signal towards the patient; and receivea reflection of the radar signal from the patient, and circuitry carriedby the patient bed and comprising: a radar controller to receive datafrom the plurality of radar sensors indicative of the reflection of therespective radar signal from the patient; and a breathing patternmonitor to determine one or more parameters indicative of a breathing ofthe patient based on the data from the plurality of radar sensors,wherein the circuitry includes a rotation bladder controller and a P&Vbladder controller and wherein the rotation bladder controller and theP&V bladder controller controls operation of the rotation bladders andthe P&V bladders, respectively, based on the data from the plurality ofradar sensors, wherein the patient bed includes a mast to which theplurality of radar sensors are coupled, wherein a lower end of the mastis coupled to the upper frame assembly so that the plurality of radarsensors coupled to the mast raise, lower, and tilt relative to the baseas the upper frame assembly is raised, lowered, and tilted,respectively, by the lift system.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein thebreathing pattern monitor is configured to determine that the patienthas an asymmetrical breathing pattern based on the data from theplurality of radar sensors.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein thebreathing pattern monitor is configured to determine whether the patientis performing chest breathing based on the data from the plurality ofradar sensors.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the breathing patternmonitor is configured to determine a chest expansion distance of thepatient based on the data from the plurality of radar sensors.
 5. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the breathing pattern monitor is configuredto determine a tidal volume of a patient's breathing based on the datafrom the plurality of radar sensors.
 6. The system of claim 1, whereinthe breathing pattern monitor is configured to determine a rate of apatient's breathing based on the data from the plurality of radarsensors.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the breathing pattern monitoris configured to determine whether the patient has a Cheyne-Stokesbreathing pattern based on the data from the plurality of radar sensors.8. The system of claim 1, wherein the breathing pattern monitor isconfigured to determine that the patient has a Kussmaul breathingpattern based on the data from the plurality of radar sensors.
 9. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the breathing pattern monitor is configuredto determine that the patient has breathing apnea based on the data fromthe plurality of radar sensors.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein theplurality of radar sensors are connected to an arm of the patient-bedmast and the arm is arranged to overlie the patient.
 11. The system ofclaim 10, wherein the plurality of radar sensors is movable relative tothe arm.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the radar signal has afrequency between 30 and 300 gigahertz.
 13. The system of claim 1,wherein the plurality of radar sensors comprises a first radar sensorarranged to detect movement associated with the patient's right lung, asecond radar sensor arranged to detect movement associated with thepatient's left lung, and a third radar sensor arranged to detectmovement associated with the patient's abdomen.
 14. The system of claim13, wherein the patient bed has a longitudinal dimension and a lateraldimension and wherein the first and second radar sensors are movablerelative to the patient in the lateral dimension of the patient bed. 15.The system of claim 14, wherein the third radar sensor is movablerelative to the patient in the longitudinal dimension.
 16. The system ofclaim 13, wherein the mast includes an arm arranged to overlie thepatient and wherein the first, second, and third radar sensors arecoupled to the arm.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first,second, and third radar sensors are individually movable relative to thearm.
 18. The system of claim 16, wherein the mast is coupled to theupper frame assembly at a head end of the patient bed and wherein thearm is cantilevered from the mast.
 19. The system of claim 1, whereinthe patient bed further includes a display that is operable under thecontrol of the circuitry to show information sensed by the plurality ofradar sensors.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the display is alsoconfigured to display user inputs for control of functions of thepatient bed.
 21. The system of claim 20, wherein the functions of thepatient bed that are controllable by the user inputs on the displayinclude functions of components associated with a mattress of thepatient bed and movement of portions of a frame of the patient bed.